Fourth Level Experiments and Haru's Fire Demon Bottle

In a ritual workshop perched on a rocky beach.

The spacious, silent workshop now held only Sandean and Haru, with the distant sound of ocean waves and tides echoing in their ears.

The floor was covered with stone slabs inscribed with ritual arrays. The dream realm formed by spirit power could not only unleash miraculous powers but also isolate the inside from the outside.

It could prevent accidents and shield spirit power fluctuations.

Today, Sandean and Haru's experimental subject was a stone statue placed in the center of the ritual workshop.

The statue depicted a Trilobite Man dressed as a Sky Temple priest, bearing the mark of the Oil Temple.

It had once been the High Priest of the Oil Temple, one of over a dozen killed during the Sky Temple purge decades ago. Now it served as one of Sandean's Divine Artifact - a Seal Doll.

Haru was excited as he looked at his teacher, Sandean.

"Teacher."

"It's beginning."

No one could hide the turmoil in their heart when touching upon the secret of immortality.

Sandean took a deep breath, reminding his student Haru.

"Be careful and cautious!"

"Better to fail several times than to take risks."

The Secret Art of Immortality was, to be precise, a kind of spiritual resonance secret technique. It could combine mythical blood, spirit power, and conscious memory like a boiling solution, merging them together through vibration.

What Sandean and Haru were currently attempting was to use this method from the Secret Art of Immortality to fuse the Seal Spirit with mythical blood.

The Seal Spirit was evolved from activated spirit power combined with divine technique imprints, vastly different from ordinary spirit power. The two couldn't be certain of success.

Both men continuously chanted incantations, using the power of mental vibration to emit a strange sound that filled the entire ritual workshop.

Points of silver light appeared on the stone statue, and simultaneously, a blurry, hazy spirit form appeared within it.

The silver light was mythical blood, while the spirit form was the core Seal Spirit of the Seal Doll.

The two powerful third-level Seal Priests' spirit powers intertwined, the vibrational force like ocean waves causing the entire ritual workshop to tremble slightly.

Under the influence of spirit power, sand and pebbles on the ground began to float.

The silver light and Seal Spirit merged, erupting in brilliant radiance.

Just as the power within seemed to be growing exponentially, about to undergo a transformation-

"Boom!"

This Divine Artifact exploded.

The immense power created a wave that caused the ground to cave in.

The shockwave was about to tear apart the entire ritual workshop and engulf Sandean and Haru.

Sandean immediately pressed his hand on the ritual array on the ground, quickly uttering the true name of one of the spirits.

The ritual activated, and a dream egg appeared high in the air.

All the power was instantly absorbed, and the broken floor and statue were instantly condensed into a huge stone sphere.

Sandean stood up, smiling nonchalantly.

"Fortunately, we were prepared," Sandean said with a hint of relief.

Despite his words, the consumed mythical blood had dispersed into the air, and the shattered Seal Spirit could never return.

Haru felt somewhat distressed: "We've lost one of the Seal Doll's Seal Spirits. Using up one for each experiment is too costly."

This was an incredibly powerful Divine Artifact, and his teacher Sandean only had about a dozen.

Moreover, they were a set. Losing one Divine Artifact meant losing part of its power.

But Sandean showed no significant emotional fluctuation, even seeming somewhat indifferent to these Seal Dolls.

"Here, they serve merely as guardians of the Island of Mist," Sandean remarked.

"If they can serve as the foundation for the path to the fourth level, paving the way for the future."

"It's worth it."

Though he spoke thus, in truth, Sandean somewhat regretted his past actions.

As he grew older, he wondered if his methods in his youth had been too cruel.

Not only killing others, but extracting their divine blood and spirit to refine into Divine Artifacts.

Such cruel and terrifying methods - what if later generations were to emulate him?

It was precisely for this reason that, apart from teaching his two students Haru and Lan early on, he had never again passed on the method of creating Divine Artifacts like the Seal Dolls.

"Perhaps," Sandean mused, "allowing these blood-stained Divine Artifacts to contribute to the future of the Trilobite Men is the best end for them."

This was Sandean's current thought.

After examining and summarizing the reasons for their recent failure, teacher and student discussed the details of implementing the secret technique.

Sandean and Haru modified their plan and once again began the experiment named "Fourth Level Ability Power."

However, what followed was a series of failures.

Several more of the statues standing at the edge of the island disappeared.

Haru realized that at this rate of fusing Seal Spirits with mythical blood, they might exhaust all dozen Seal Dolls before achieving success.

In Haru's ritual workshop, the candles made by the Oil Temple were still lit late into the night.

Haru held a pen produced by the Ink Temple in his hand, with various paint jars from the same temple beside him.

After dipping in black paint, he wrote down today's experimental records on silk paper produced by the Weaving Temple.

As he wrote, Haru's frustration grew visibly.

"This won't do. We can't continue like this."

"We must find a solution."

Anhofus, who was cleaning up in the workshop nearby, heard his teacher's words and suddenly spoke up.

"Teacher," Anhofus suggested, "if we've run out of Seal Dolls, couldn't we make more?"

Since Anhofus had presented the Secret Art of Immortality to Haru and had been by his side, he naturally knew some of the secrets about the fourth-level ability experiments.

At the same time, Haru would occasionally ask him about the Secret Art of Immortality and some issues related to the Samo family.

Haru didn't turn around: "Do you know what's needed to create Seal Dolls?"

Anhofus unexpectedly replied: "Teacher, I do know."

His eyes lit up: "I've heard about what the Sage of Truth did in the Sky Temple back then."

"I even know the details of how the sage finally left the Sky Temple."

"The colossal statue, bathed in divine blood, bearing the sky and the divine city, departing under the gaze of the king and everyone else."

"No one dared to stop it. That was the power of the Sage of Truth."

"The power of a third-level Seal Priest."

Anhofus stood firmly, speaking earnestly to Haru.

"Seal Dolls are created by pouring divine blood, and they were made from those temple priests of the past."

"It was these greedy and corrupt individuals who forced the Sage of Truth to leave the Sky Temple."

"And it was because of their deaths that we have today's Temple of Truth and the dawn of a new era."

Haru suddenly felt his heart tighten as he understood Anhofus's implication.

Haru turned sharply to face Anhofus, his gaze intense as he studied this young student with such strong convictions. "Do you truly understand the weight of your words?" he asked.

But Anhofus showed no fear at all, as if he knew Haru's thoughts.

"Teacher," Anhofus declared firmly, "those people were all corrupt and fallen. Their deaths were necessary."

"Only when the remnants of the old era die can a new world ignite its flames from their ashes."

Haru laughed: "Your status is nobler than theirs. You are a direct descendant of the royal bloodline."

But Anhofus said: "There are no more royal bloodlines. Everything ended when the beasts were reclaimed by the divine."

"Now is the era of priests and truth. The nobility of bloodlines will always pale in comparison to the reality of power."

"This is what you taught me, teacher."

"Without the Ruhe beasts, the royal bloodline is nothing more than ordinary mortals who have fallen from their thrones into the mire."

"I now have only one identity, and that is your student."

"A seeker of truth."

Sandean called himself a preacher, while Haru, as his student, always referred to himself as a seeker.

Anhofus was borrowing Haru's words here.

But at the same time, it also represented part of his true inner thoughts.

After listening, Haru's stern gaze softened as he regarded Anhofus.

He turned his head to look at the candlestick, his thoughts churning in silence.

He actually agreed with what Anhofus said, because his own father had been killed by these people.

This was also why he was unwilling to set foot in Yinsai again, always staying on the Island of Mist.

Haru remained silent, lost in contemplation.

But the candlelight reflected in his pupils revealed a cold, determined gaze-

Using the pretext of visiting the Food Priest Lan, Haru took his student Anhofus on a sea journey. When they returned ten days later, their large ship carried seven or eight additional large boxes.

Amidst bumps and jolts, the boxes were pushed up the cliff to Haru's ritual workshop on a two-wheeled cart.

People who saw this from afar didn't find it strange, as every month there were several ships from the mainland bringing various necessities to the island. The workshop teachers would also purchase things they needed.

That day, a hidden altar was constructed in the underground chamber of Haru's ritual workshop.

It was a large hole dug out using the Pottery ritual array. The altar was inscribed with the Fire Element divine technique imprint, and the four walls bore the Ability Deprivation divine technique used to extract mythical blood.

This was an evil divine technique derived from the Bestowing of Abilities.

In ancient times, priests would use this divine technique to strip away an enemy's abilities, turning them from a lofty ability user into an ordinary mortal. It was considered the greatest punishment for royal bloodlines and high-ranking ability users.

For ability users who viewed bloodlines as everything, this punishment was more terrifying than death.

"Clang!"

"Clang~"

Anhofus opened the boxes one by one, revealing unconscious figures inside,

They wore priestly robes, disheveled and even covered in blood.

Clearly, they hadn't been politely invited into the boxes.

The boxes contained priests from the nine great temples, each from families of the dozen or so priests who had died at the hands of the Sage of Truth Sandean.

Although Sandean had killed the strongest dozen or so members of their families back then, they still maintained their once lofty positions today.

Before long, these people woke up one by one.

They were terrified by the dark underground scene and the eerie altar.

"Who are you?"

"Temple of Truth, I know you're from the Temple of Truth. I saw the divine techniques you used."

"Let us go."

"His Majesty won't let you get away with this, and neither will the nine great temples."

Haru emerged from the darkness, looking at these people.

"I recognize you all, the Bain family, the Hoai family..."

"And!"

"Someone from the Tito family."

As Haru recited this middle-aged Trilobite Man's background, his gaze turned as cold as ice.

The mastermind behind the plan that killed his father was the Tito family, and this person had been part of that plan.

In Haru's view, he was a survivor who had slipped through the net during the great Sky Temple purge.

"How can someone like you be worthy of the Tito name?"

Without waiting for Haru's order, Anhofus first dragged this Tito family priest up and tied him to the altar.

Haru began chanting incantations, pressing his hand on the other's forehead.

The middle-aged priest was so frightened his legs went weak, struggling on the altar as if in convulsions.

"I was wrong!"

"I was truly wrong."

Haru's eyes flashed with exhilaration as the spirit power chant reached its final segment.

"You escaped your judgment back then. Did you think it was over?"

"No."

"It was just delayed a bit."

A powerful force surged into his body, instantly driving out all the mythical blood within.

The priest's eyes instantly lost their light, his entire body losing vitality as if turned to stone.

Points of light dispersed into the sky but were locked in place by Haru's power.

The mythical blood was confined.

Under Haru's guidance, the priest's spirit power gradually activated, becoming an activated spirit entity.

Haru took out a transparent flask filled with the gas called fire element.

The mythical blood in the air fell, transforming into a mark embedded on the flask.

This flask became the root of the Seal Spirit, which could never escape its confines.

"Pop!"

Haru opened the lid of the flask, releasing the gas inside.

The activated spirit entity consumed the fire element from the flask, transforming from a spirit form into a Seal Spirit possessing divine technique imprints.

Looking at it, it was completely transparent, as if it didn't exist at all.

This was a unique Seal Spirit composed of gas.

But when it raised its hand to release its power, it was completely different, changing from completely invisible to the most dazzling existence.

Flames ignited in its hand, and then the entire Seal Spirit transformed into a fire person.

Haru cruelly refined the first Tito family priest into a Divine Artifact.

Haru waved his hand again.

He stuffed this fire person into the flask, then sealed the lid.

The fire person struggled constantly inside the flask, growing larger and smaller.

Finally, the flames gradually extinguished, and it returned to being a completely transparent Seal Spirit trapped in the flask.

Haru held up the flask, his face looking somewhat terrifying in the reflected lamplight.

This originally ordinary bottle had become completely different after integrating mythical blood and the Seal Spirit, filled with dangerous and powerful spiritual fluctuations.

This was an entirely new Divine Artifact, completely different from the Seal Dolls Sandean made using the Pottery divine technique imprint. He had used the Fire Element divine technique imprint.

Haru: "This is something that belongs solely to me, a Divine Artifact I created."

Anhofus: "What's its name, Teacher?"

Haru: "Let's call it Haru's Fire Demon Bottle."