Standing on the thin pole, Kai felt the environment around him begin to change. Even the air around him began to shake. The King of Pain at this moment just stood there and didn't even move. It seemed like this entire situation was quite familiar to him.
Kai instantly released his perception, carefully scanning his surroundings. Over the past two months, Kai had progressed greatly in this skill. He could sense everything coming from around him, even tens of metres deep into the gorge.
At this moment, Kai sensed something.
"What is it! Dangerous!" - Kai thought appraisingly, and shifted his gaze to the King of Pain.
A second ago, Kai had felt something tyrannical rising from the depths of the gorge. But it wasn't a creature... Rather, this danger was occupying the entire space. But at this moment, the Pain King was just calmly waiting.
"I see... It seems that what comes next is the essence of the new trial." - Kai thought, analysing the whole situation.
It was now clear why King Pain didn't engage in a fight, but just calmly walked towards the mountain...
Kai felt the sense of danger getting closer and closer. It was slowly rising, filling the entire void with itself. After a few seconds, Kai began to see something in the darkness. There was some sort of red colour rising from the depths. Seeing this, Kai strained his eyes and began to look closer.
"What is it? Some kind of... Dense, red mist..." - Pondered Kai.
Watching this process, Kai saw that this strange fog was starting to come to his feet.
"Looks like the challenge is about to begin!" - Thought Kai and started spinning his energy to maximum.
Kai's energy was very tyrannical and overwhelmed all other energies he had previously encountered. He decided that he needed to cover himself with it for protection. First, he needed to find out what was going on here and then act.
It was a sensible strategy that worked not only in martial arts, but also in life. It was better to find out all the nuances and prepare the ground first. Kai had always preferred to act according to this principle.
The moment he thought about it, his entire body began to be covered in black energy.
But when the strange red mist touched Kai's feet, something strange happened.
"What the..." - Not believing his eyes, thought Kai.
The energy surrounding his feet began to dissipate. And the further the mist rose, the more Kai's body became exposed. Along the way, he began to feel all the uncovered parts of his body begin to go numb....
- Tzz! Shit... - Kai shouted through clenched teeth.
The numbness didn't end anything, it was followed by a piercing pain!
"Suti's eyes!" - Kai thought and instantly activated his ability.
He began to watch as the red mist slowly penetrated his body and began to corrode from the inside out! Its corrosive power was terrifying!
Kai tried to summon at least some of his energy to counter the fog. But to no avail! While he was trying to do something about it, the fog had already completely covered him, taking away his ability to use his energy!
"Damn! Maybe..." - Kai thought that he should try using the Astral Sacrifice Fire.
He instantly summoned his fire, but there was very little of it. Without the support of his energy in control, the power dropped greatly. It even seemed to Kai that this fog also limited his ability to use the Spiritual Sea.
- It's useless... - Kai said to himself.
He saw the red mist calmly pass through his fire and penetrate his body. He was just ignoring it!
"This stuff seems to completely suppress all functions except my body's strength... Considering the specialisation of the King of Pain... Now I see the point..." - Kai suddenly realised.
The King of Pain specialised mainly in his bodily defence and strength. This mist was affecting those very aspects. It tested your body, forcing you to withstand the destructive force. Everything else it ignored, preventing you from using it.
- As with the Fury King... I must focus on a specific aspect, namely my body! - Kai said to himself.
Right now, Kai felt a piercing pain all over his body. It was very peculiar, because it was all-encompassing! The fog was penetrating literally every part of his body, ignoring any barriers! It was slowly destroying his entire flesh!
Enduring the pain, Kai leisurely shifted his gaze to the King, watching him through the fog. At this moment, the latter was still standing calmly without expressing any emotion.
- I think now I know why they call you the King of Pain... - Kai said through his teeth, watching his opponent.
"Okay we need to focus on our bodies! This is going to be an endurance battle!" - Kai thought and closed his eyes.
He began to scan his body, watching the tissue break down in different parts of his body. It was as if he was being eaten from the inside out. But goodness, Kai had the Kessia bloodline, which helped him a lot. As soon as something started to break down, the regeneration process would immediately kick in.
"Fuck... My regenerative abilities are amazing. But it seems like the damage is too extensive..." - Thought Kai, watching the processes in his body.
Now, something similar was happening in his mind, like the battle with the Fury King. Kai began to understand a little more about his regeneration process. With all the focus on her, he began to notice previously unobvious nuances.
- Hmmm... - Kai gave out thoughtfully as he observed his body.
Although he was in a lot of pain right now, he was a little used to it over the years. It was just that this version of pain was new to him. It would take a little time to get used to it.
"So that's it... I can take control of this?" - Reasoned Kai in his head.
Using his Essence Eyes, he could see the fog penetrating his body and beginning to break down the tissue in a certain spot. At the same moment, it was as if his body was reacting, and channelling more blood and a kind of energy there...
Except it wasn't energy from his Energy Centre, or the kind of energy that martial artists absorb from the outside environment. Kai thought of it as energy because he couldn't find a better analogue. He noticed that it wasn't just blood that was involved in the regeneration process, but something else as well....
"What is it... It's like... Lightning?" - Reasoned Kai.
With the help of his Essence Eyes, he began to notice something strange... When he decided to move a finger or other body part, pulses travelled through his body. They were so small, they were almost imperceptible. Even though he had the Spiritual Sea open and possessed the Eyes of Essence. Even with that, he couldn't clearly make out and understand what he was seeing.
Watching this, he noticed that as soon as the red mist inflicted a wound, that area of the body would instantly receive those pulses and blood flow. At that moment, the power of regeneration was amplified manifold.
Except, there was one problem that Kai noticed! While enduring the pain and watching the destruction in his body, he was just thinking of a solution to it....
"Too much is going nowhere! How can I direct only a small portion of it and to a specific area? Is that even feasible?" - Kaya wondered.
The problem was that the body was channelling a lot of effort to heal a large area at once. For example, if the damage was to the palm of the hand, those strange pulses and blood moved to heal the entire hand at once. Thus a great deal of effort was wasted.
Kai realised that if he could learn to control this process. And spot heal specific areas. Then his stamina would soar to another level! Then he would only spend his body's energy on the right processes and wouldn't exhaust himself so quickly.
"That's it... Amazing concept... I've never thought of my body in this manner. It seems there are still many things we don't understand. Or was it made possible because of Kessia's bloodline?" - Right now, dozens of thoughts and questions were running through his mind.
"Even Master Mo didn't tell me about such things... But my regeneration is no longer that of a human... Could it be that the human bloodline is too weak in this regard to be able to notice such nuances? If these strange impulses are taking part in the regeneration process... Perhaps there are simply too few of them in the human body to detect..." - Deep in thought, Kai stood there, beginning to bleed slowly....