Noctis ran past a few more trees and bushes before he finally arrived at the base of the small mountain, where his entire sight was filled up with the grand view of a majestic waterfall!
He widened his eyes in surprise because he didn't expect that the waterfall was outright huge and impressive up close in person.
He wasn't able to hear anything else because all he could hear was the thunderous sounds of the water descending from the side of the mountain, as it aggressively hits the surface down below which led into a wide lake area.
Noctis spent some time enjoying the view of this beautiful scenery as he took in the unique fragrance of the surrounding nature, which was mixed with the natural scent of the rousing waters and the musty odors emanating from the nearby trees and rocks.
He found it quite interesting that despite this waterfall being wide in width and on top of it already being quite large, it was more similar to that of a plunge type waterfall. They would usually start from a narrow stream before the fast-moving waters would descend vertically, but would lose complete contact with the bedrock surface. Noctis thought in his mind that it was most likely due to the source up above, and the rocky and uneven stream path along the way.
Noctis closed his eyes and entered deep into his sea of subconsciousness to make contact with the Fallen Space-Time Chasm. Shortly after, he held out his hand and the note that he had gotten from the dead corpse had suddenly appeared out of thin air. He grabbed it and read through it a few times before storing it back inside.
This ensured him of what he needed to do, but also decreased his confidence in finding the great treasure because the waterfall that he was looking at was most likely not the right location!
It was almost evening time and since the moonlight won't appear until late at night, Noctis decided to vigorously train his body, so he could have a chance of breaking through again. He firmly stared at the raging waterfall with cold intent before walking closer to it.
Upon nearing the base of the waterfall, he realized that there was actually a lengthy staircase and a rough stone path that was already laid out, which led to the 'impact zone' where the fast-moving waters were still descending. He thought to himself that the villagers in Mount Trinity had the same idea as him, so they probably constructed this path in order to temper their bodies under the waterfall.
Noctis took off the upper portion of his clothes and laid it against a nearby solid rock before walking up the staircase and going near the rapid descending waters. He furrowed his brows and expected that tempering his body against this violent rush of water would be akin to dropping tons of continuous heavy weights on his body.
He didn't think of anything else and moved closer, but before he was able to take a couple steps forward, Spirit Ster's clear voice had resounded in his mind once again,
"Damn kid, you really gonna go through with this!? This waterfall has an unusual property to it, so that the combined weight of all the damn water hitting against your body would be enough to break your bones! You're merely in the Mortal Blood realm, so your body can't withstand the pressure and force before falling off and landing hard on the lake area below… only someone at the Core Spirit realm would at least be able to keep their balance! If you're really gonna do this, then you're practically telling me to continuously heal your body you masochistic nutjob!" |
Noctis didn't think Spirit Ster's words were strange, but he still gave out a wry smile before replying to the spirit in a determined tone,
"There's no better way to temper my body in this small mountain region other than this method! I must increase my strength no matter what… if you can quickly heal my body, then it's all the more reason for me to do it! I will most likely fail repeatedly, but I will not give up until I see good progress on my body and cultivation."
Noctis already had the resolve to go through with this ever since he decided to go to this waterfall, despite him thinking that he probably won't find the great treasure inside. He didn't speak any further before he was directly facing the rapid-descending waters, and could even somewhat see his reflection even though it was distorted. Noctis closed his eyes and gathered upon the natural energy of the world to relax himself.
He finally took a step forward, but as soon as he did, his eyes suddenly widened in shock because he felt that the first round of impact striking against the back of his head was as if someone was furiously hammering his head in!
"AUGHH!"
Noctis felt intense pressure from the back of his head, as his mind became a jumbled mess. He wasn't able to lift up his head at all, which made him reflexively move forward in order to lessen the amount of impact he was getting from his head alone. The rapid-descending waters moved down towards his stiff neck, and then to his broad shoulders, but before he was able to go any lower, he had firmly lost his balance and slipped off the edge!
Noctis fell off the platform and the fast-descending waters fiercely struck his body on his way down the waterfall!
Splash!
Noctis crashed into the lake area down below with powerful force, but he was still under the waterfall, so he couldn't quickly rise out of the water and had felt like he was drowning!
Thankfully, the strong ripples and stream flow in the lake saved him from the waterfall, so he was able to eventually swim up to the surface and stick his head out a few moments later. Noctis hurriedly swam to the nearest shore with great difficulty, as he coughed up a mouthful of blood along the way.
He got out of the water and slowly walked away before his body collapsed several meters away from the waterfall. Noctis laid flat on his back and felt like he was about to lose consciousness, but he bit down on his tongue in order to stay awake. Shortly after, he felt Spirit Ster's miraculous healing ability as his body began to slowly recover.
Noctis was panting heavily and the adrenaline in his body was dying down, but he had enough clarity in his mind to check the overall state of his body. Surprisingly, he realized that only a few of his bones were broken and that he was more resilient than he thought…
...
After a while of resting, Noctis got up again and stared straight at the waterfall once again. His eyes revealed a dangerous light deep within his pupils while he revealed a cold and indifferent expression.
Noctis moved again and soon enough, he arrived at the same place where he was before he fell off… he was extremely determined to push his body to the limits in order to breakthrough!
…
Night had arrived and it was almost time for the moon to ascend high up in the sky to display its marvelous moonlight.
Noctis fell off the platform once again and plunged into the lake down below, but this time he was able to quickly rise to the surface and reach the shore. He had done this a large number of times and was quite used to it, but the major difference in each attempt was that he could last longer under the heavy pressure of the descending waters before falling off. He had reached a point where he could temper his entire body for several minutes and could feel that his breakthrough was imminent!
Noctis slowly got up and was about to go back up for another attempt, but he realized that it was getting closer to the time that he needed to do the puzzle according to the note. He moved to the base of the mountain and decided to recover there as he gathered upon the natural energy of the world.
A couple of minutes had passed and Noctis could finally see the reflection of the moonlight off of the large waterfall. He closely observed this phenomenon, but realized that nothing really happened and it didn't indicate that a mirage had appeared or the waterfall had risen…
Noctis had a slight frown on his face before he decided to go into the depths within the waterfall and the lake area while circulating the qi essence insight. There was no reaction at all, so Noctis transposed it to his 'Berserk Might' insight that he had already comprehended earlier today within the Insight World.
He didn't expect that his first use of circulating this insight knowledge would be for a great treasure within a waterfall, but he definitely had to make sure that he used every insight that he currently knew of. Upon first use of the 'Berserk Might' insight, Noctis felt that the state of energies throughout his body was surging in a frenzied manner and that his mind was becoming chaotic, but after some time in adjusting, he was able to completely control it.
Noctis circulated this insight, but after a few uses of it, the 'Berserk Might' insight was unfortunately not working either… Noctis was at a loss and didn't know what else to do before asking Spirit Magi for his opinion and any sort of guidance,
["What I'm currently thinking is something you are thinking as well… don't concern yourself with this matter for too long because there are plenty of opportunities for you to solve this waterfall puzzle alone."]
Noctis closely listened to Spirit Magi's words, but he couldn't help but feel like the spirit wasn't enthusiastic about this treasure at all…
After experimenting for a little while based on the puzzle note, Noctis decided to give up and concluded that either the waterfall he was currently training under wasn't the location, or it was because he didn't have the required insight!
Noctis didn't become dejected because it was within his expectations... he could only blame himself for his bad luck and his insufficient variety of the other prime insights. He didn't think about it much further before putting his clothes back on and leaving the surrounding area to hunt an animal for food. Noctis was successful and had spent the remainder of the night regaining his physical energy and resting his entire state.
The next morning had arrived and Noctis was even more determined to breakthrough to the Fourth Level of the Mortal Blood realm!
Noctis had actually entered into the Insight World again during the night, but he didn't get any progress at all with the 'Qi Essence' and 'Berserk Might' insight. He thought to himself that it was most likely due to the fact that not much time had passed since he already gained progress with these two prime insights.
However, a major thing he did discover was that both grand temples now had a back room with a teleportation array that led to each other's pillar room!
Noctis was quite happy about this discovery because it would save up a lot of precious time if he needed to travel between grand temples. The teleportation array had only two light nodes that indicated the 'Qi Essence' and 'Berserk Might' grand temple, whereas the rest of the nodes were blackened out and were obviously unavailable.
The remainder of the time he spent in the Insight World was wandering around so he could find any other grand temples, but to no avail, his luck didn't play out for him and the foggy mist made him feel like he went around in circles a large number of times!
Noctis initially did the 'going straight in a line' strategy, but he wasn't able to find anything at all after a few minutes. He felt this method was a huge waste of time, so he started to wantonly run around to search, as if he didn't care about getting lost! This is because Noctis felt a distinctive spiritual connection to the 'Qi Essence' and 'Berserk Might' grand temples, so he would always know which direction to go if he ever wanted to go back.
Noctis got up and helpless sighed since he didn't personally gain any benefits from any sort of insight comprehension within the Insight World… he could only hope that the next time he goes inside would be much better and more beneficial to him.
Noctis started walking towards the waterfall, but before he was able to hear the sounds of it, he instead suddenly heard a loud beast growl a couple of meters away!
He stopped his tracks because he realized that there was also a scream and a cry for help that accompanied this beast growl… it sounded like it came from two very young people!
Noctis furrowed his brows and didn't think about anything else before he rushed towards the source of these sounds!