"This place allows one to come to terms with their emotions and form a Pure Heart, unblemished by the changes of the world and creation. Apparently, such a thing is invaluable to any elemental cultivator." He answered with much struggle.
The woman nodded.
"Indeed, this place allows us to form a pure heart, the precursor to a Dao Heart, something you won't touch upon until a long time."
"This is the trial of mental resilience of Sovereigns. Indirectly, it is linked to your trial of wisdom or as the spirit called it, Trial of Intelligence, as the way you perform here will decide how you're tested and trained there." She added.
"With what I've told you so far, do you think you can guess what the trial you'll undergo with me is about?" She asked.
"The Pure heart, obviously. Either a path toward being able to-"
Adonis began to froth at the mouth, his body convulsing as veins began to bloom all over his body.
Seeing this, for a moment, the woman was shocked. Her gaze narrowed and she analysed Adonis, not even an instant later, she understood.
'Ah, how interesting. He's part of that race.'
Blood began to leak from Adonis' orifices and his muscles began to atrophy. As this happened, words from his late mother rang in his mind.
[You and your father are…different. You've inherited as much from the both of us but in the early stages of your life, the heritage your father has passed down to you will be the most prevalent.]
[The reason why he wants you to practise these exercises of detachment is because you feel things differently. You know these colours you saw when you were younger? These weren't hallucinations, these were emotions.]
[The people from your father's Lineage see and feel things at a level that surpasses all comprehension and it becomes more exaggerated when their own emotions are factored in.]
[To avoid you making the same mistakes he made when he was younger, your father came up with the Detachment Sutra for both you and your siblings. But if you ask me..]
[He's an idiot! Why detach yourself from your own emotions and humanity? Isn't that what makes us who we are?! No, instead, accept it all and reign it all in, under one stoic mind that feels as much as it understands.]
[Without letting it overwhelm you, accept and understand your own flaws and emotions then forcefully impose your will onto it and become the sole master of your mind! That's what that useless father of yours should be teaching you!]
[Seraphina! What the hell are you teaching our son! Don't you…]
The voices of his parents faded out of his mind and Adonis slowly opened his eyes, his gaze set on the beautiful blue sky above.
For some reason, at that moment, the warmth of the sun that hung above him felt particularly endearing.
The winds of the plain felt enveloping, the sturdiness of the earth below him felt reassuring and the sounds he heard felt gratifying.
It was like he was seeing the world for what it was, for the first time.
"Congratulations, young man. This hurdle you've just passed is a massive one."
Adonis didn't pay much attention to her words for the moment.
'I didn't think that father's Detachment Sutra would have such an effect on me…if it wasn't for that, would I have been able to survive up until now? Was that why he insisted I learn that instead of mom's method?'
'Just how far into the future could you see, dad?'
Now that Adonis wasn't under the effects of his father's Detachment Sutra, he felt real again.
He sat up and looked at the woman before him. All around her, he could see varying colours and shapes, all intertwining to form something he couldn't understand quite yet.
"I understand the purpose of the trial now."
Hearing this, the woman looked at him with a complex gaze but before she could speak, the world around them began to blur and slowly, akin to a projection imposed onto reality itself, images began to play out.
These images began with the birth of a cute and chubby boy with beady red eyes.
***
Uncle Seth madly grinned seeing how absurdly well Adonis was doing.
He smiled even more as he began to watch his nephew's life from his birth, catching up on moments he hadn't been able to be a part of due to the curse that'd been inflicted upon him.
For a while, it was all smiles and laughs coming from him, but soon, he froze.
Though Adonis hadn't told him in detail what had happened to him, he did tell him he was tortured.
Though that was the case, it was an entirely different story when one saw it instead of hearing about it.
Bones broken. Organs torn. Skin peeled. Boiled alive. Drowned. All forms of physical torture were put on display.
Uncle Seth's rage only seemed to rise as he saw Master Aryel's disgustingly evil smile as he ran experiment after experiment on Adonis' body, seeking to see where exactly its limit lay.
The people of the White Nomad group definitely weren't the only ones interested in his nonsensical regeneration capabilities.
'These fucking bastards..'
If only he hadn't been tied up to this artefact, if only he hadn't been separated from his brother, if only he'd known about this, if only…
He could've avoided all of this from happening and this infuriated him all the more.
'Brother, was this truly the brightest future you could see…?'
***
As Adonis saw more and more of those images, his smile became softer and softer as on his chest, the illusory outline of a white core shone through.
The Pure Heart.
A mental feat of legends throughout the entirety of existence and yet, here, without any hitch, a young boy was forming it.
[You have passed the trial of mental resilience.]
BOOM!
Adonis' pure heart stabilised and fully formed before it vanished, leaving behind a gust of white energy that seeped into every part of his being.