Just the residual auras of this many beast kings made it hard for them to breathe. In fact, despite how much one could gain from this region, the beast spirits would normally have to stop before reaching the true cores. Luckily, only faint auras remained on these cores or else only those at King level would have been able to get close.
It was because of these true cores why the beast lord couldn't enter. Even though their consciousnesses were gone, if any creature above the level of great beast entered, the true cores would use their remaining energies to kill it. The first time the beast lord tried to enter the secret world after breaking through, it lost an eye and immediately retreated before it lost its life. If it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't control his power and was diluting his aura, Shui would have probably suffered a similar fate.
"Woah, what do you think happened here?" asked Cin in amazement.
All that was known about this place was that there was a massive war over it, but despite how astounding it should have been, there were no records.
Shui felt that he could figure something out with the Primordial Library, but there weren't enough clues so he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Who knows?" before stepping towards the tree.
As they got closer, the pressure they faced increased, but never to a degree that they couldn't manage. There was no need to worry about being ambushed here so everyone was using their full strength to reach the base of the tree, but the two brothers still had power to spare.
"Well, we should part here."
"Stay safe."
Once they were a couple cales away from the true cores, Shui and Cin parted. From now on, they would have to find a true core that was willing to bond with them. However, they were the only two with such bold plans; the rest were simply planning on absorbing remnant energy from a compatible true core. If their minds were too weak, there was a chance of the true core taking over their bodies but unlike other beasts, neither of them doubted the strength of their souls.
As Shui wandered around looking at the true cores, he wondered.
'What could have done this?'
Beast kings were well-known for being hard to kill, so Shui wasn't sure how it was possible for them to end up in this condition. While it was possible for these true cores to take over a body, the original owners' souls were long gone.
While examining the true cores, he noticed that they were all connected to the tree, which explained how it was able to grow this big. But at the same time, it was odd. How could a tree be able to absorb the essences of several true cores? Even mutated flora above a thousand years old that had birthed a consciousness wouldn't necessarily be this abnormal. Therefore, Shui wondered if this tree was actually connected to the gods.
The more he thought about it, rather than the true cores, it was the tree that he became interested in. He walked to base of its trunk and placed his hand on it. There were a few beasts who saw him do this and they all snickered. They were from the group that he robbed with Cin, so they couldn't wait for what would happen to him. It wasn't well-known even among veterans, but it was taboo to interact with the tree directly because any beast eccentric enough to do so would have their souls pulled out of them and died.
Ignorant of how dangerous his actions were, Shui closed his eyes and tried to place his awareness inside the tree. But then, it happened. Rather than him placing his awareness inside it, the tree seemed to grab his soul and suck it in. Naturally he was frightened and tried to move away, but he discovered that he was no longer in his body.
Instead, he was in some green space and in his human shape.
"Huh?!"
As if waiting for when he would become aware of where he was, hairy vines appeared from all over the space and wrapped around his body.
"Ahh!"
Putting the chills that he felt just from looking at the hairy vines aside, Shui trembled as they made contact with his skin. They didn't pierce his flesh, but he could feel himself being drained of something important.
"Let go! Let me go!"
Once he gained his half-step divine body, Shui considered this possibility but this was the first time it happened. This was the first time he found himself unable to break out of something. He felt powerless before these oddly tough vines that leeched off his energy.
Once his strength didn't work, Shui tried to use his heart flame on the vines, but he couldn't summon it.
'Damn it! This must be directly connected to my soul, but I don't have good enough control over my heart flame to bring it here.'
Shui tried to use 'Fire'. This time, an orange flame did attack the vine, but the flame itself was absorbed without any damage being done to the vine. According to the common Five Elements Theory, the vine should have been fed to the fire but the exact opposite happened.
'Damn it! I have to think, there's gotta be something I can do.'
The longer he took to free himself, the weaker he would get so Shui was desperate to figure something out.
'This is the world of the soul, but the soul of whatever brought me here is obviously stronger so I can't do a direct fight. I need something to open a gap so I can escape.'
While struggling to come up with a way to get out this, the drain from the vines reached a point where he could sense his consciousness fading.
'No no no!!!'
In his desperation, Shui used every offensive inscription he could think of, and just smashed all of them into the vines. Unfortunately, all it did was accelerate his fall into despair.
'No... I can't, die like... this.'
Even as his illusory eyelids felt heavy, Shui's urge to resist was still there. Up until he was forced to close his eyes, he never gave up.
!!!
Once Shui went unconscious, more vines tried to wrap around his body, but all of them were turned to dust. A pair of eyes as big as Shui's body had appeared above him and was looking down on the vines. These eyes looked exactly like Shui's, but they held power that his didn't. Just by looking at the vines, these eyes could exterminate them. And with a blink, the green of the space was concentrated into a head-sized sphere, leaving a room of endless white. With this done, the eyes closed and disappeared, and Shui woke up again.
"What, just happened?"
The last thing Shui remembered was being tied up by vines in a green room, but now the only green he could see was the orb in front of him. He was sure it wasn't, but the doubt that it might have been a dream entered his heart.
'No, I'm certain of it .'
The fact that his 'body' also felt weak was proof that something happened. This made Shui reluctant to stay here any longer, but then the green orb shot towards him.
"!"
Without the time to dodge, Shui guarded with his arms and waited for impact. However, the green orb passed straight through his arms and went inside him. There was a jolt felt across his entire body, but then he was enveloped in a warm, soothing sensation. Unable to resist the peaceful feeling, Shui closed his eyes and focused on it. Slowly but surely, this warm sensation became one with him.