Alex admitted defeat. "I lost."
"You didn't lose," the man said. "It was this old man who lost."
"What the hell does that mean?" Alex asked, thoroughly confused. He no longer had any combat strength, and his body felt as floppy as a fish out of water. The man could have slaughtered him, but he had chosen not to.
He had so many questions following the altercation. The black-clothed man had used the kind of technique that could only be possessed by a true master.
Alex felt that dying at the hands of a master of that rank wouldn't be the worst way to go. He would know that he had given it his all and had been bested by someone exceptional.
"Why didn't you kill him?" Linden demanded. He wanted to see the end of Alex, but the man had made the decision not to hurt him. It was a missed opportunity because it was unlikely Alex would be in that position again.
"You wish for him to die?" the man asked.
"Of course," Linden replied, nodding.
"Okay." The man attacked suddenly, striking Alex's chest with his palm.
Alex's heart skipped a beat, and he automatically activated the remaining genuine essence in his body and crossed his arms in front of his chest to block the attack as much as possible.
It all happened so quickly that Alex was thrown off balance, allowing the man to push him off a cliff, which was so high that the ground below wasn't even visible. Even with his essence gathering around him, Alex was in a dangerous predicament. But he knew that the man could have killed him and had held back on purpose. His attack was never meant to be fatal.
"The cliff is more than a thousand feet high," Linden said, laughing. "He's got to be hurt, at the very least, so I'm happy enough." Then he crossed his arms over his chest, grimacing with pain. He thanked the man, who then removed the mask that had been covering his heavily lined face.
Linden's eyes widened in surprise. The black-clothed man was actually a renowned venerable master.
He took a step back. They had never interacted before, so he couldn't understand why the man would help him now.
"Why did you save me?" he asked.
The venerable master didn't respond immediately. He simply walked over to the edge of the cliff, with his hands behind his back and his face expressionless.
"It was nothing," he said. "I have my own reasons."
**
Alex, having just fallen off the cliff, found himself entering a different realm.
Although he was in a bit of pain, he was almost enjoying his trip down. Light flickered around him from the fireflies darting in all directions.
He managed to catch one, and then he discovered that they weren't ordinary fireflies. They were magical creatures whose bodies were covered in golden light, but when they flew, their tails emitted a weak blue glow. That spot of blue light was the soul of the firefly, which could replenish spirit energy.
After several of them had circled around Alex a few times, a wave of energy surrounded him, and his injuries seemed to be slowly recovering. Wounds closed over to become smooth skin.
He felt that his spirit was clean, and all his unhappy thoughts were gone. His body, which had been tense a second ago, suddenly became light, as if his spiritual energy had been replenished.
He relaxed completely and accepted the healing light into his body. His body was cocooned by the light, and as he landed safely, he saw strange creatures that he had never seen before, but because of the light, they didn't approach.
He realized that he had fallen through the void and had entered the dark realm, the most dangerous and strange of them all.
While he had initially been frightened as he had plummeted off the cliff, he was now at peace, and his energy was fully restored.
A memory suddenly made its way into his consciousness. "The dark world is the most dangerous place in the void," he muttered to himself. "If you accidentally fall into it, you must find the sacred firefly and the secret key of fire. The former can help you recover and re-energize. The latter will get you out." He couldn't remember who had said it, but the words had stuck with him, and now he knew his main mission was to find the legendary key.
He knew he would have to be careful not to encounter any more troublesome creatures. With his power having been recently depleted, he knew that he might struggle if he were to get involved in another fight.
He must have jinxed himself by thinking about it, because he heard rustling noises in the distance and felt the ground shake a few times in succession. It sounded as if something was walking toward him. From the way the ground trembled, he thought it must be an immense beast.
Alex frowned, tapping his fingers on his thigh as he thought up a plan of action. It seemed no time at all before the creature came into sight.
With the light centered around Alex's body, he could only see its outline. It was almost the height of three adult men, and when it walked, its tread was several times louder than that of an elephant. A pair of long horns grew on his head.
Alex recognized the giant creature as an ancient evil.
The beast appeared to have seen Alex. It leaped into the air, and the ground trembled violently as it landed.
Alex had reacted quickly, retreating immediately. A huge crater had appeared where he had been standing.
He took in the scene and cursed. He had only narrowly avoided being crushed into the dirt.
The beast launched another fierce attack on Alex.
Alex looked at its glowing scarlet eyes and felt the immense energy that was being emitted from it, and he realized that the creature was going to be very difficult to deal with.