Adam breathed heavily. His body was drenched in blood, there were numerous scars littered all across his flesh, and steam constantly emanated from him.

The steam was a result of the Five Elemental Codex neutralizing the corruption.

Throughout the entire battle, he was constantly circulating the Codex. As a result, the corruption hadn't reached deep inside his body.

Still, the damage done to him wasn't something he could ignore. After all, in his battle just now, he had been injured countless times.

So he retrieved another fruit from his ring and ate it with trembling hands. The fruit from the unholy tree brimmed with vitality. Not only did it help him recover his strength and heal his wounds, but it also helped to reinforce his physique on a fundamental level.

The vitality from the fruit consumed in tandem with circulating the Five Elemental Codex had become the perfect counter for battling the corruption!

As strength slowly returned to his body, Adam extended his senses outward. Behind him was a sea of mutilated corpses, and in front of him… was where the abomination resided.

The structure before him was no mere building, but a tomb fashioned from a gigantic skull crowned with twisting horns. The bone was darker than night, warped by forces not of this world.

Adam believed this was the remains of the ancient titan whose carcass he had crossed on his way here. He couldn't help but wonder about the identity of the colossus whose carcass still remained millennia after its death.

How strong was it when it was still alive? How did it die? Did it fight with the abomination? Or was the cause of death something else entirely?

As these thoughts swirled inside his mind, all the wounds on his body slowly healed. But faint scars still remained. The corruption had also been thoroughly countered.

Now, he only had eight fruits remaining. And he had an idea about how to use them. But all that could only be possible once he took care of the abomination.

He sat down cross-legged on the ground, resting the Staff of Calamity horizontally on his lap. The cave atop the carcass was too far from here. So he decided to recover his stamina on the bloody battlefield.

Keeping his Sphere of Resonance still active, he thought back to the gruesome battle he had just fought. To be honest, he had never fought so many creatures at once before. Despite the numbers, he emerged victorious.

In the process, he also deepened his understanding of the Astral Tyrant Manual's combat art. Furthermore, having to constantly circulate the Five Elemental Codex while he battled the army of corrupted monsters significantly increased his proficiency in it.

An important distinction had to be made, however. He wasn't absorbing mana from the air while fighting. No, that required a calm state of mind that could only be achieved through mindfulness.

He was actually using the Codex to refine the pure mana existing in his core to counter the corruption within his body.

Another key detail he realized was that after consuming the two fruits, his mana reserves had increased by a tiny margin!

One had to know that such a thing was nigh-impossible. Yet, the miraculous fruits had made it possible. This led him to believe that the unholy tree not only drained the vitality of the valley, but also the mana present in all living beings who once resided here.

The more he thought about the unholy tree, the more mysterious it seemed.

He couldn't help but wonder about its origins. If possible, once he dealt with the abomination, he'd like to visit the tree again. Not only out of curiosity, but also payback. The snake still resided there, after all.

A long time later, Adam had finally finished recuperating. He rose to his feet and took a deep breath.

He raised his head and faced the dark skies. Then, he muttered in a low voice:

"Tron… you're with me, right?"

There was no response. But for some strange reason, Adam thought he felt a reassuring hand tapping his shoulder.

Was it his imagination? Maybe. Maybe not.

"You better not let me die." Adam let out a nervous chuckle.

Of course, he knew better than most that the Will of the World did not truly care about the life and death of an individual. It only cared about the well-being of the world.

The only reason it was supporting Adam was that it had deemed him worthy of eliminating the threat. And to an extent, also because he had helped it gain sentience.

He took a deep breath, then stepped forward.

It was time to face the abomination.

Soon, he stepped through the gaping maw of the colossal skull. Its jaws were frozen wide open, jagged fangs the size of watchtowers occupying the entrance.

But the moment he stepped inside, he froze.

His heart started beating faster and faster, and he felt like his chest would explode. He collapsed to his knees, and his back was drenched in cold sweat.

Horror.

Pure horror.

Otherworldly dread permeated the interiors. The aura of dread Adam felt now was significantly more than what he felt from the other corrupted creatures he had faced.

The abomination was nowhere near him, yet he could still feel its horrifying presence. The aura of dread caused a paralysis so deep that Adam found himself completely defenseless.

In the depths of his spirit sea, the Eternal Soul Lotus responded. It sent a wave of tranquil energy, nourishing every inch of his spirit sea, immediately suppressing the dread gnawing at his mind.

Only then did Adam feel slightly better. It was then that he realized that he had been holding his breath ever since he set foot inside the tomb.

Using his staff, he slowly rose to his feet, his legs still trembling. At last, he spread his senses outward. Had there been any enemies lying in ambush just now, they would have certainly killed him when he had lost his composure just now.

There was nothing but pitch darkness inside the tomb. The interior slopped downward as if the bone itself had been partially melted and reforged by something unnatural.

When Adam spread his senses downward, he finally realized what the connection between this place and the spirit world was.

At the same time, ceaseless ravings assaulted his mind. They spoke in a language that was unknown to him, yet somehow, he understood every word.

They whispered, over and over:

'The Beyond… the Beyond… the Beyond…"

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