The first time Alex and Shumi let their Yang and Yin Qi interact back in the Medicine World, they had been on opposite sides, working to fight against each other. As such, the resulting explosion threw them backwards with enough force to kill them had they not been so lucky.

This time, however, they were facing the same direction, their two hands placed on the rock face as it was their only target.

As their Qi merged, the Yang and Yin could not interact in any harmonious way, and thus it immediately reached a state of critical instability. That instability fought against the barrier.

The yellow barrier was quite strong and held itself up against their combined might. But Alex and Shumi hadn't even begun just yet.

They could tell that they were finally going to succeed. So, they looked at each other, understanding what needed to be done, and then flooded their Qi into the barrier.

The massive amount of Yin Qi and Yang Qi slammed against each other, growing unstable and chaotic.

And then…

BOOM!

Alex was dazed for a long time, the sight and sound of his surroundings leaving him at once. His head spun for a long time before he slowly got a hold of himself to check his surroundings.

A large portion of his spiritual sense was completely destroyed. It was as though the chaotic Qi had torn through his spiritual sense, leaving a portion of his senses completely blank at the moment.

Alex's vision returned slowly, and only then did he see the aftermath of their action.

The mountain was gone, the illusion torn apart. And the yellow barrier that lay within it, the main barrier that had been the bane of their trouble from the start, now had a massive hole in it.

And it wasn't healing.

Alex ignored the continuous ringing in his ear and looked inside the barrier. His spiritual sense tried to enter, but as soon as it did, it grew unstable inside, unable to sense anything at all. So, he could only look inside with his eyes.

The inside was mostly dark, the massive yellow barrier surrounding everything throughout the outside of the place, blocking in all light. The barrier itself produced little to no light, making it hard to see things immediately.

It took Alex a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before he saw anything else.

What was inside the fake mountain was another mountain. Or perhaps it would be apt to call it a large hill instead. At the top of the hill was another barrier, small and seemingly alive.

Looking at it carefully, Alex could almost tell that the barrier was one made of yellow flames, like the ones that the birds were made from. He couldn't see what lay inside of it.

The hill itself wasn't much to look at. It was decently expansive, over a kilometer wide from what he could tell, and as tall as the illusory mountain. In a way, if they had found a way to get above the mountain somehow, they would've reached the center of the island that way.

The hill had short verdant grass covering it all the way to the top, flowers of all colors blossoming here and there.

The hill wasn't the only thing inside either. Alex could see two depressions on the ground near the base of the hill where nothing grew. The depressions were massive, nearly dozens of meters wide and deep, making it appear as if something had stood there before that had been taken away.

With his Demon Eyes, Alex could see some sort of blue aura on one side, and a black aura on the other side. Both aura were strong enough that they made it difficult for anything to grow in their presence.

"What is this place?" Shumi spoke up.

Only then did Alex remember that she was even next to him. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he had nearly forgotten he wasn't alone.

Alex turned to look at her and saw her disheveled look. Even then, she was so pretty. He saw Whisker next, clinging to her back. He appeared a little hurt, but not so much that he couldn't hold on.

"We should enter," Alex said. "Before the barrier closes up again."

Alex nodded and walked in, Shumi following right alongside him. The moment the two entered, the world around them changed.

Bright yellow flames came to life all around the place, burning in various spots around the perimeter as light spilled back into the world. Almost instantly, the night before had turned into something indistinguishable from daytime.

As light filled the inner world of the island, something else came to life.

The Sun God finally moved from the corner of his vision, now appearing right in front of Alex. He completely covered Alex's vision, larger than the mountain and the sky. With a deep voice that rumbled deep into Alex's very soul, he spoke.

"At the top of the hill, your destiny awaits you."

His figure slowly grew smaller once he said that. As Alex watched, his figure grew smaller and smaller, and at the same time moved farther and farther away from him. All until he vanished into the small fire barrier at the top of the hill.

Alex turned to look at Shumi who too turned to look at him.

"Did she..."

"The top of the hill," Shumi repeated. "We need to go there."

Alex realized then that it was all that was left of them to do. They had to go to the top of the hill and acquire whatever inheritance it was left behind there.

'The grave of the true gods,' Alex thought, taking a deep breath. 'I'm finally here.'

Alex was about to step forward when suddenly something appeared before him again.

In a blinding flash of light, a massive fire came to life, slowly taking on the vague shape of a bird.

"Praise be you! Our awaited day has finally come to an end," the bird said as it slowly landed before them. Its body was so massive in size compared to the two humans and a mouse, that they looked like ants before it, but it was shrinking in size now.

Alex could tell it was the master of the trial based on the voice. He hadn't expected it to come out so early.

"Did we pass the trial?" he asked. They had yet to get to the top of the hill.

"Yes," the bird said in an excited voice. "You have arrived at the center of the island." As it spoke, its body continued to shrink. And the more it shrank, the more detailed its figure became.

It was about the size of a person when Alex could tell the type of bird it was. Around the same time, Shumi noticed something else, and she pointed to it.

"His legs!" she said in a gasp.

Alex looked down, now seeing the fully formed legs of the bird.

There were three.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the bird said in a proud voice. "I am the Sun Crow."

Alex's eyes went wide in shock.

The Master of the Trials was the Sun Crow, also known as the Three-Legged Crow.

A Primordial.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.