Chapter 597: Perfect and Eternal
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A mysterious figure draped in ck armor that resembled scales silently walked through thends. His entire body was covered in armor and a ck cape fluttered behind him.
The man had a fairplexion, long ck hair that cascaded over his shoulders, and a pair of amber eyes with ck, vertical slits. His very aura radiated dominance and power as he made his way toward the depths of thends.
The ground he was walking on was bizarre. At a cursory nce, it looked no different from normal ground. But if one were to pay close attention, they would find the peculiarities.
Under the dirt and foliage, the ground seemed made of scales. Some scales were the size of small cities, while others were no bigger than nails.
Layers of scales formed valleys, cliffs, and ridges. They radiated strange energies, disying ancient and unreadable runes.
The armored man was unfazed by the abnormalities around him, continuing to calmly traverse the strangends. Throughout his journey, he passed by rivers that contained luminescent liquids in them. They glowed with eerie green or purple.
They were magical. They were deadly. They were rivers of venom.
Serpent-like water elementals or snake spirits swam through these rivers. When the armored man passed them by, they bowed their heads in respect. They were familiar with him. Greatly
So.
The sky above thends was also bizarre. It was dominated by swirling patterns of clouds, creating a kaleidoscope of colors as light reflected upon them. But upon closer inspection, one would find that they weren''t clouds at all. They were fangs.
The armored man entered a forest region. This area, like every other ce on this ne, was far from normal. Serpentine tongues emerged from the ground like towering trees, forming this forest.
These trees appeared sentient, pulsing and hissing softly, dripping with venomous dew. This forest was home to colossal snakes and other spirit snakes that guarded whaty in the depths of this region.
Smaller snakes cast one nce at the man before fleeing in panic. Whereas the bigger snakes looked at the man in fear and respect. They didn''t attack him and simply let him pass.
The man''s expression was stoic as ever. He didn''t see these titanic snakes as a threat, for he knew that with just a simple wave of his hand, these creatures would cease to exist.
This entire ne was strange and mysterious. Judging from its characteristics, it was undoubtedly a ce in the Spirit World.
As the man neared the center of this forest, his expression gradually turned solemn. After traveling for an unspecified period of time, he finally arrived at an ancient citadel.
The citadel seemed to be made of stones as old as time itself. Surrounding this building was yet another gargantuan serpent-bigger than any other snake on this ne-its long onyx body coiled around the structure as if guarding it.
The man stopped before the entrance of the citadel. He lowered his head in a show of respect and spoke in a mysteriousnguage that consisted of whispers and hisses.
"I seek an audience with the Great Serpent," said the man.
A few moments of silence ensued before therge serpent coiled around the citadel began to move. A few momentster, it revealed the towering main door to the building, allowing the man to enter.
"Thank you," said the man with a slight bow before he entered the citadel.
From the beginning till the end, the giant snake outside hadn''t revealed its face. It sensed the man''s aura and knew him to be someone who frequently visited the citadel.
After the man entered the citadel, the snake moved its body once again, covering the building''s entrance.
The man arrived at a sprawling chamber in the depths of the citadel. At the center of this chamber stood a pedastal made from materials unknown. Atop the pedastal, floated a small serpentine creature.
It was a snake no bigger than the size of an adult human''s arm. Its eyes glowed faintly with an ancient light, as though holding the wisdom of millennia. Its form was perpetually in motion, subtly twisting and tightening.
The snake''s tail rested gently in its mouth, but no wound or blood was visible. The act of devouring its tail was seamless, a perfect and eternal loop with no beginning or end, symbolizing the unbroken cycle of creation, destruction, and rebirth.
A gleam of yearning shed past the man''s amber eyes as he gazed at the floating snake. He took a step forward, and another, and then another, until finally he stopped. He felt a mystical energy preventing him from taking another step toward the snake.
The man''s lips curled up into a bitter smile. "Thousands of years of studying the Way of the Serpent and you think I''m still unworthy?"
There was no reply from the small snake. It remained silent and detached from everything that happened around it. It didn''t even bother casting a nce at this man who could be considered an influential powerhouse in the Greater Universe.
Despite that, the man remained steadfast. He had discovered this ne by sheer luck in his youth. Since then, he had been diligently cultivating his arcane prowess with the resources avable in this ce.
He had been unwavering in his pursuit for thousands of years and if need be, he would be for thousands more. Over the years, he had proved himself worthy of countless trials on this pilgrimage site and finally reached the citadel.
However, it seemed that he still wasn''t worthy in the eyes of the powerful being thaty before him.
The man''s eyes brimmed with confidence as he proimed, "When I return the next time, I will have gained your approval at longst!"
With that said, he turned around and walked out of the chamber.
This person, a Magus of great strength, was among the thousands of Magi who had attacked Magus Julian Stockholm in order to get his hands on the legendary relic, the white lotus.
s, despite the strength they wielded, they had all fallen to their deaths, and the white lotus disappeared into the boundless universe, waiting to be inherited by the destined one.
So why was this powerhouse acting so humbly in front of a small snake?
The answer was simple.
This snake was an entity whose origins were shrouded in mystery. Perhaps only a few powerful beings in the universe truly knew about the secrets that it held and thews it represented.
It went by many names, but the following titles stood out the most.
The Eternal Devourer;
The Archive of Venom;
The Cosmic Serpent;n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The Great Ouroboros!
...
Adam slowly opened his eyes, his vision unfocused as the rays of the early morning sun gentlynded on his face. The tranquil pondy before him and Valerian was behind him, peacefully
snoozing.
He had just finished going through the fragmented memories of the expert whose soul he''d devoured. For a brief moment, confusion gripped his mind before everything turned crystal
clear.
Recalling one of the memories where the Magus had visited a ne in the Spirit World that was filled with snakes, Adam''s body involuntarily shuddered in fear.
"What a sick and twisted joke!" He cursed under his breath.
Ever since he was a child, he had had a phobia of snakes. This was further reinforced when he had to run for his life after he''d saved Valerian-who was still inside his egg-from their of
a vicious serpent in the Spirit World.
He hated snakes!
Yet, now he wasing to learn that his path to gaining strength was rted to these
serpentine creatures. He wanted to curse his fate for ying such a prank on him.
Adam thought about that scary serpentine ne that he had just witnessed in the expert''s memories, another round of shudders running down his spine.
"The Coil of Eternity," he murmured.
Thinking of the small snake swallowing its tail, Adam couldn''t help but feel goosebumps all
over his skin. After all, that was an entity on par with cosmic beings such as Yggdrasil.
He was gradually beginning to realize that all those Magi who had gone after Magus Stockholm hade from unfathomable backgrounds, wielding great influence and possessing unparalleled legacies.
Adam also realzied another thing, one that made him nervous and excited at the same time.
If he, as the possessor of the white lotus, had ess to the memories of all those powerful Magi with great legacies, didn''t that mean he had the greatest legacy of them all?