John nodded his head and walked into the opening, his nerves taught. As he passed through the opening, John felt an incredibly bizarre feeling wash over him, but other than that, he was unharmed.
The white light that hovered high in the sky slowly dropped down, until it floated directly in front of John. John was slightly shocked that the source of the voice was this ball of light, but once he passed through the formation, John could feel extremely powerful soul fluctuations emanate off of it.
'A soul! It's a soul existing outside of a body. How is this possible?' John had never heard of such a thing. From what he knew, souls needed bodies to exist. Just how strong was this soul that it could exist on its own?
"If this boy you speak of is truly good enough to be my successor, I will be in your debt, but it's extremely important that you are sure he is good enough. My strength has waned over the years, and every bit of energy I expend shortens my souls remaining life."
John was surprised to hear these words. According to the soul, it was in an extremely weakened state, but even so it was so powerful.
'Just how strong was this soul when it was at full power?' A shiver was sent down John's spine as he thought about this.
'First the massive chasm caused by a sword attack, and now this soul. Just how high does the cultivation world go?'
As John was deep in thought, the voice spoke once more.
"Before the topic of your friend, we must talk about you first. Who exactly are you? And why do you have the scent of "them" on you"
The question startled John, as he was sure he was completely beneath the soul's curiosity.
"I am John Fenix, from the Yuan Continents Fenix Clan. As for your second question, I'm afraid I don't understand. Who is "them"?"
John felt the powerful divine sense inspect him once more. The soul was silent for a moment before speaking out once more.
"I did not detect any lies from your soul fluctuation. It appears you really do not know," the voice responded.
John was irked that one again he was unable to find out the truth of matters, but did not ask for clarification. He had a sneaking suspicion that this too involved the mysterious workings of karma.
"You're clearly just a weak child, but your body contains many mysteries even I am having a hard time peering into. Your body emits the faintest hint of them, while your dantian is a mystery as well. It appears normal, but I have a suspicion that there is more than meets the eye...how curious."
'It seems even this soul cannot detect my second dantian. It seems I shouldn't be worried about others detecting it in the future, if even this soul cannot.'
This was one less thing John would have to worry about going forward.
"I'm afraid that due to the nature of your secrets, and what they could potentially mean, I must peer into your origins...your memories of birth locked away in the deepest parts of your soul."
John's eyes widened in shock as he shouted out. "Wait a minute, didn't you say you despise such things? How can you change your mind so quickly!" His soul contained all his memories, and if the soul wanted to, it could find out the secrets about his body dantian, his Immortal Asura Body, his palace realm and more.
"I know what I said, but unfortunately, I can very faintly sense their influence on your body. I must verify the truth. I will only inspect your origins, and how you came to contain the scent of them."
John wanted to protest once more, but before he could, he felt the incredibly powerful divine sense pierce directly into his soul space. It went straight to the core of his soul space, and John suddenly felt a splitting headache as the soul invaded his memories, searching for whatever he wanted to find.
Meanwhile, in the palace realm, the holy gate began to slightly glow as the discussion between the soul and John carried out, which was unnoticed by John himself. As the soul invaded John's memories, the gate exploded with a holy light, piercing directly out of the palace realm.
Rumble!
An incredibly powerful soul aura filled the temple, even stronger than that of the mysterious soul in the temple. John shuddered as he felt this powerful aura. Although it showed no ill will towards him, John couldn't help but be dumbstruck by its power. The very air itself seemed to tremble in fear and prostration at this aura.
'This! This feels like the aura of the holy gate...just what is going on?'
John's soul ached for a split second, before he felt the invading soul energy quickly flush outwards. He breathed a sigh of relief, since none of his memories had been read yet.
"You….how...how is this possible?" The temple soul spoke out, its voice clearly trembling.
John was once again shocked. This amazingly powerful temple soul was clearly intimidated by the new soul aura.
"Celestial Soulrend, it's been quite some time," the holy aura spoke out. It was John's first time hearing the voice of the holy aura, but he felt completely refreshed when it spoke, and his soul felt itself strengthened with every word, which was the complete opposite of the temple soul.