His body was already close to collapsing by now, so if he didn't open his Mending Lock soon, it would all be over for him.
The threat of death did nothing to impede him, however, instead increasing his courage even more, allowing him to gather strength at an even faster rate than usual.
As a new wave of energy gathered at his core, Minos's face slowly melted away, the muscle beneath being revealed, making him look like a monster.
His eyelids were also close to being eaten through, and once that happened, his delicate eyes wouldn't last long.
If his eyes were destroyed, even if he awakened his Mending Lock, it would be impossible to regenerate them back from nothing, so blindness became a very real possibility.
Minos didn't want to lose his vision, so he moved even faster, the constant sizzling of his eyelids being a reminder that he wasn't far from such a reality.
To say he wasn't afraid would be a lie, but Minos was the type who fought even harder in fear, finding strength in his weakest moments.
The pain that had begun engulfing his eyes didn't falter him, and with one final push, he gathered all the energy he needed.
His eyes were only a few seconds from dissolving completely, so Minos gathered his strength, attacking his Eleventh Life Lock at full force.
Just like the first time, the energy didn't disappoint Minos at all, breaking through the Eleventh Life Lock with zero struggles.
Immediately, he felt a surge of vitality travel from the deepest depths of his body, slowly massaging itself into every cell and fiber.
The vitality not only allowed his flesh to quickly grow back, but improved its durability tremendously, making the acid-like liquid that was once devastating, useless.
His eyes that were already completely blinded by this point quickly grew back, once again filling his socket, bringing light back into his world.
After a few minutes, his entire body had been restored to normal, his bald head once again growing out a thick coat of hair, even longer and denser than before, each strand glossy and healthy, as if just hand washed.
At this point, he was completely relaxed, a soft smile forming on his face as he knew he had just barely escaped death.
Despite that, he once again gathered more energy, not planning to hold back at all today, wanting to reach completion in the Mortal Renewal Realm as soon as possible.
With no more worries to hold him back, Minos slowly gathered the energy he needed, no longer moving with the haste he had at the beginning.
Even then, it only took him a few minutes to gather enough power from this seemingly endless source of energy.
With everything in place, he attacked his Twelfth and final Life Lock, again destroying it with no struggles, almost wanting to make him laugh out loud.
With how difficult the first Nine Life Lock's were, he expected the last three to take him a few years at least, but who knew that they instead were the easiest?
Of course, the only reason this was the case was because of Minos's wisdom, and a healthy dose of luck as well.
It was lucky that such a resource existed in the first place, but had Minos not had the intelligence to unlock the puzzle, then it would have gone undiscovered.
Naturally, however, it also came back to the fact that he was lucky enough to have that strange monocle, otherwise he would have never thought of doing such a thing.
Thinking about it, he realized it seemed to all boil down to luck at the end of the day, because ultimately, even the greatest genius would be stumped without the clue provided by the monocle.
Whether it was luck, wisdom, talent, or anything else, none of it mattered, all Minos cared about was making full use of the fortune he was provided.
With his breakthrough completed, Minos jumped out of the pool, using its reflective surface to have a look at himself.
He wasn't sure if he was just imagining it, but he felt like he had become more handsome, his features more chiselled than before.
His hair was also much thicker, like a lion's mane, filled with an innate sense of majesty and nobility.
His height had also had a noticeable increase, surging from 190 cm to 195 cm in a single go, making his figure even more imposing.
After admiring himself for a moment, Minos tossed his clothes back on, before emptying out one of his spatial rings and filling it with the green liquid.
As much as he wanted to break through to the Inner Heaven Realm right now, it was too early, his strength having just gone through a massive surge and needing time to adapt.
The Inner Heaven Realm was ultimately a completely different realm, and while Minos could push his body a bit when it came to the Mortal Renewal Realm, he didn't want to take any risks for such an important breakthrough.
Not to mention he had yet to properly understand the cultivation technique Venix had given him, having never expected he'd reach such a level so quickly.
So until his body properly adapted, which would likely take a few months, he didn't plan on doing anything too hastily, wanting to reach perfect condition first.
However, with this liquid on hand, he had no worries, knowing that the second his body was ready, he could make the breakthrough immediately.
Until then, all he needed to do was keep some distance from Lilia, which fortunately should be easy given her attention should be focused on the temple.
As long as he didn't leave the vicinity and alert her, Lilia's shouldn't be too concerned with him, which would instead give him the time he needed.
But for now, what he really needed to do was seal this place back up, not wanting anyone else to discover its mystery.
Fortunately, he had moved fast enough, so by the time he had pushed the statues around randomly and resealed the room, no one had noticed.
With everything done, Minos couldn't help but feel relieved, feeling like a clear path had been paved right in front of him.
His next goal was to just survive the next few months and fully master the Pure Nux Ascension technique, getting all the pieces ready for his breakthrough.
Thinking for a moment, he decided to head back to the library since not only was it a large space with lots of hidden corners, but there weren't many people interested in it either.
With his mind made up, he headed straight for the library, walking inside and finding a spot far away from everyone else before he began reading.
…
The next few days passed in relative quiet, the temple still being packed with adventurer's, but the library was pretty much empty as usual.
By the time a week had passed, Minos had long since thoroughly memorized and understood the Pure Nux Ascension technique, spending the rest of his free time reading up on all the other books and techniques he had stored away.
Just as he was about to spend the next few months this way, a loud sound went off throughout the whole temple, the ground beginning to shake fiercely.
Minos, who was sitting cross-legged in one corner of the library, was nearly tossed on his face by the sudden vibrations, but he jumped up just in time.
Everyone else in the library was also looking around, their faces surprised as they tried to identify the source of the sudden quaking.
"Quick, something's happening near the star room!" One voice shouted from beyond the library, causing everyone to immediately bolt towards the door as they didn't want to miss the action.
Minos was naturally among them, quickly reaching the front of the group before making his way towards the star room, which was located at the far end of the temple, the final room one would enter if they started from the front.
Almost immediately, Minos noticed something different. Beside the star room, a large set of staircases leading deep into the earth had suddenly appeared.
Initially, when he heard the words star room, he assumed someone had discovered the same secret as he had, but fortunately, it looked like it was something else.
A large group had gathered around this new discovery, but no one took the lead in entering, clearly afraid of any potential traps.
While the temple had been mostly safe in the meanwhile, no one was stupid enough to make any gambles, especially when it came to their life.
"Which one of you discovered this?" A harsh voice suddenly said, his loud voice reverberating through the entire temple.
Hearing this arrogant voice, Minos knew that someone powerful had appeared, at the very least of the Inner Heaven Realm.
Someone in the Mortal Renewal Realm wouldn't be so arrogant as to question everyone here, after all, such an action would just put them in danger.
Instinctively, Minos hid deeper into the large group of people, trying to maintain a distance from that voice.
Soon enough, a large burly man had walked out from the crowd. He had a bald head and a face riddled with scars, clearly not a person who was easily messed with.
"I won't ask again, which one of you discovered this?" He spoke, his voice now taking on a slightly murderous intonation.
Seeing no one was speaking, the man couldn't help but smirk, his eyes cold as ice. Without saying another word, he flicked his finger, sending a bullet of Nux through an unlucky man's head.
The man's head immediately exploded, creating a firework of blood, brain, and bone, causing some people to let out shrieks of terror as they tried to escape the man.
Unfortunately, how could a mere Mortal Renewal Realm escape an Inner Heaven Cultivator? The few stupid enough to run were immediately slaughtered, causing everyone else to freeze in place.