"Raj... stop this thing... before someone in that place senses its presence..." Ume whispered, on the verge of collapse.

Dan... da... dhun...

Dan... da... dhun...

Dan... da... dhun...

"Wait for me. I will be back in a minute," I said, gently laying her on the ground.

Taking a deep breath, I walked toward the crystal heart reverberating inside the Eternal Flame.

Reaching closer, I extended my hand to grab the heart, and the moment my fingers touched it—

Ding...

"Congratulations! You have completed the Main Quest: Secrets of the Abandoned Land.

[Claim the reward]"

Ding...

"The real name of Broken Shards is revealed.

Broken Shards → Heart of the Fallen

Description: The Heart of the Fallen is one of the four ancient relics needed to uplift the second ban on the %@#*& bloodline. A thousand years ago, the Heart of the Fallen was broken into four shards and remained hidden outside the four corners of the Forest of Gumiho. The overwhelming presence of these broken shards absorbed all the Soulforce from the surroundings, turning this land into the Abandoned Land.

Note: If anyone without the %@#& bloodline touches this ancient relic, their body will be reduced to nothing."

"So the reason there is no Soulforce here was because of this heart!" I gasped inwardly.

Strangely, even though I was holding the heart in my hand, the flames around it didn't affect me in the slightest.

"Vivi, what should I do with it?"

"Touch the Heart of the Fallen to your chest so that it can merge with Host's heart."

Following Vivi's guidance, I took off my upper clothes, and as soon as the artifact reached closer to my chest, it tried to dig into me, causing unbearable pain.

Incalculable energy surged into my body, almost breaking my bones, burning my flesh, and damaging my veins.

"Aghhhhhh!!!!!!"

After a moment, the artifact was repelled from my body, leaving a burn mark at the center of my chest.

"Error! Host's blood, bones, and flesh are too weak to absorb the Heart of the Fallen.

Minimum requirement for absorption:

24.99% manifestation of Blood, Bones, and Flesh."

"Shit... after all that struggle... I can't even absorb it," I muttered, grabbing the artifact.

"Vivi, can it be detected if I put it into the inventory?"

"The inventory is an empty space in a different dimension, so no one can detect the artifact's presence there."

That was what I wanted to hear. I grabbed the artifact and threw it into the inventory, putting an end to this annoying phenomenon.

"Ume, how are you feeling?" I asked, softly raising her into a sitting position with a hand behind her head.

"It's better now," she murmured. "Where is the artifact?"

"I placed it in the other dimension. It won't cause any more trouble."

The fire erupting from the Eternal Flames cracked the high-tier crystal wall behind us, opening the way outside.

I put the lotus crystal into my inventory, picked Ume into my arms, and left the place.

"Wh-what in the world have ya done, brat!?" Jambavan demanded, pouring buckets of sweat at the cave's exit.

"Shhh! She is sleeping!" I whispered.

Jambavan's focus shifted to the sleeping Ume in my arms, and letting out a brief sigh, he opened the sealed exit, and the three of us left the cave.

Using Vyaghra's blessing on me and Ume to avoid the people's gaze, I reached the upper surface of the city.

The whole place was in complete chaos. Violent storm clouds were slowly vanishing from the sky. The buildings were covered in dirt as if a storm had just struck the city. The streets were empty, and all the doors and windows of the houses were shut.

"Did the heartbeat of the artifact cause all this?" I wondered inwardly.

Jambavan and I left the city with Ume still in my arms and reached the teleportation array placed in the forest outside the city.

"You are hurt," Ume murmured, gently brushing her finger over my burnt chest.

"Oh, you woke up. How's my lady feeling?"

She slid out of my arms and mumbled while standing on the ground, "How disgraceful of me. I didn't even help you and even became a burden to you—"

Flick!

"Ack! What was that for!?" she hissed, rubbing her forehead.

"Punishment for speaking nonsense," I said, blowing my finger like the muzzle of a gun that had just fired a shot.

The next few minutes went by as Ume absorbed Soulforce from the Soul Stones to recover herself, while I gave the explanation to Jambavan about the world-shaking phenomenon.

"Brat! Ya haven't even reached a Mid-Tier realm and are already causing so much chaos," Jambavan sighed. "What will ya do once ya reach higher realms?"

"It wasn't me who caused the chaos, it was that stupid artifact," I stated with a frown before continuing, "I also consumed quite a lot of energy. Let me recover as well."

Using the excuse of meditation, the first thing I did was claim the reward from the quest.

"Congratulations! You have received the ability to synchronise your consciousness with the other body.

Would you like to do it?

[Yes] [No]"

"I have finally obtained the way to return to Earth that I wanted from the very first day I reached here," I murmured inwardly. "So why is my finger trembling to tap on the yes button?"

While I was suffering from the predicament of whether to touch the [Yes] button or not,

Ume, having recovered completely, opened her eyes and spoke up,

"The cave where the artifact lay had several strong spells cast in the whole area. In my current realm I couldn't understand what those spells were used for. But now I'm completely sure, since no powerful being appeared even after that artifact shook the whole Vyoman. Those spells were hiding the presence of that artifact."

Her visage turned solemn, and she warned in a steady, resolute tone,

"Raj, do not reveal that artifact beyond that cave, or not even Jambavan, Vyaghra, and I combined would be able to protect you."

"Got it," I replied, swallowing hard.

"Jambavan, you should check on your disciples in the city?"

Jambavan, understanding that I wanted alone time with Ume, nodded and moved back to the city.

Taking a brief sigh, I turned towards Ume and said, "Ume, I need to tell you something."

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