"Hmm… I can't seem to think of an idea. I guess I'll move on for now", said Tang Lin.
'There's still something I'm really curious about. I wonder if it's possible to fuse qi and essence together. If qi represents the energy of the universe and essence represents the physical power that is cultivated by our bodies then there must be an equilibrium', Tang Lin contemplated.
With both arms stretched out in front of him, Tang Lin focused to control both the qi and essence at the same time. Above his left hand, a ball of qi was formed. On the other hand, a sphere of essence was created on top of his right arm.
Slowly, but surely, Tang Lin moved the energies closer towards each other as sweat started to drip down his forehead. As the auras of the spheres got closer to each other, Tang Lin started to feel a strange repulsion force being emitted.
"What-... What is this?" he muttered.
The qi and essence were starting to move away from each other instinctively before being forcefully pushed closer together by Tang Lin again.
'Just a little more', thought Tang Lin as he fought against the powerful pressure emitting from both of the spheres, which were a centimetre apart.
At that moment, the spheres collided into each other as light filled his eyes. Strange and mysterious sights and knowledge filled his mind when he saw the point connecting the two energies. He felt like he knew everything within the universe. As if he could now do and understand anything he wanted. Although, this experience was fleeting and didn't last long before he was snapped into reality.
*Boom*
Both of the energy spheres exploded as Tang Lin felt a hot and strong force cave into his chest. The whole underground labyrinth trembled at the might of the explosion.
***
In the chimera's room.
'What the hell are those kids doing up there?' thought the chimera as it lifted one eye up.
***
Back inside the treasure chamber.
Lying down flat on the floor, Tang Lin was knocked out unconscious. On top of his chest, an object was shining before dimming back down. It was the life-saving talisman that he had saved for the fight with the chimera. After being used once, the yellow talisman was filled with burn marks and shrivelled up.
***
Inside Tang Lin's mind.
'It's dark. So dark. Water?' Tang Lin thought in a haze.
*Hup*
A tangible force wrapped around the ankle of his legs, dragging him deeper into the depths of the water.
Struggling to breathe, Tang Lin opened his eyes, while flailing his arms everywhere.
'Beautiful', he thought as stopped thrashing about after finding out that he could still breathe, despite being underwater.
Inside the darkness, a whole world of stars illuminated his eyes. Scenes of the unimaginable occurred as if he was watching the birth of the universe. What was even more mysterious in that vision was that he saw another universe parallel to it with a person standing right in between.
'What is this meant to mean?' Tang Lin thought.
Everything felt so real at that moment, before he got pulled back up. This time he wasn't pulled up the water, but pulled back into reality.
In his enlightened trance, Tang Lin had absolutely no idea how long he had been out for.
"What happened back then?" he grumbled as he sat up, while trying to remember.
*Rustle*
'What's this?' thought Tang Lin as he picked up a yellow paper that had fallen to his lap.
"AH! Isn't this my life-saving talisman? What happened to it?", he asked aloud before suddenly remembering what happened.
"That explosion… then this must've been what saved me", said Tang Lin.
'All's not lost though', he thought.
However, when he tried to remember the images and understandings he sensed back in his trance, everything became blurred and distorted.
'I can't feel it. I can't feel the same sensation as I did back then. Everything has become faint. All it has left me are seeds of inspiration' thought Tang Lin.
'The fusion of qi and essence is way too dangerous for me to attempt to use again right now. I need to first figure out a safe way to use it. Regardless, I have an idea on how to utilize the concept of vibration now', he thought.
"If I focus on my crimson qi and constantly twist it at a hyper speed. The tip of the crimson qi should have enough kinetic energy to even pierce through iron", Tang Lin muttered.
'After covering my Dual Dao swords with crimson qi, it will also gain the power of vibration. To prevent the vibration from damaging or affecting the swords, the interior of the crimson qi will imitate the same frequency as the swords. What's more important to note is not its penetrative property, but its ability to send the damage inside the opponent; bypassing all physical defences', he pondered excitedly.
'I'll call this skill Qi Resonance, since I'm able to control the intensity of the vibration to a certain degree', thought Tang Lin.
"Let's try it out now", he said as wielded his Gravity sword.
Holding the black sword in front of him with both hands, Tang Lin concentrated covering the sword with his crimson qi.
"Now, for the most important part", Tang Lin said.
Slowly, the crimson qi surrounding the surface of the sword started to tremble.
*Bzzzt*
At the start, a loud vibrating noise reverberated before fading out as the crimson qi resonated at a certain frequency.
Looking at the sword in front of him, the constant vibration and twirl of crimson qi caused it to look blurry.
'Time to test it out', he thought, while looking at the floor.
The material the labyrinth was made out of had been completely unscathed from every fight so far, which made it the perfect dummy to test out his new move.
Sending out a normal slash against the ground, the ground withstood the impact.
"Still nothing? How about this?" he taunted the floor.
"Descending Blade!" said Tang Lin.
*Boom*
Hitting the ground, sparks of friction blew out from the collision as some smoke was created.
'Damn. I even secretly increased the weight of the sword', he thought as he looked at the ground.
'I don't know what else to do. Maybe I need to find something to make use of its penetrative ability as well', Tang Lin considered.
Instead of slashing or cutting randomly, Tang Lin decided to relax his muscles as he crouched down. It looked like he was about to pounce at any second. He had his left hand out in front and his right hand holding the sword to his waist.
Breathing in and then breathing out, Tang Lin suddenly attempted to pierce the floor. By increasing the weight of the sword and utilizing the concept of vibration, Tang Lin focused all his power into a single point.
*Bang, crack*
'Hm? That was the sound of a crack wasn't it? Did that do it?' thought Tang Lin excitedly as he waited for the dust to subside.
"It can't be… even that wasn't enough? I swear I heard a crack though. Will I even be strong enough to fight the chimera?" he questioned himself in disappointment as he walked away.
Unknown to him, inside the structure of the ground, cracks spread out everywhere.