At any other given moment in time, this might have been the shared glance with one another that made normal individuals realize that there was something for the two of them.

A certain chemistry that sparked and electrified their hearts or souls no matter the current distance between them.

Time and distance held no boundaries.

Maybe it was the meeting of the minds.

An innate understanding that you comprehended right now was unimaginable before.

Seized in that moment of eternity where you realized that in the dark and ever-growing space of the universe—the chances the two of you meet was nothing but extraordinary.

It was where you finally savor this moment and the depths of it were fathomed at full.

A rush in their hearts fueled by adrenaline and everything else in between.. Sparking and erupting unknown feelings and sensations that weren't exactly there before, but now it captured you more than anything else.

It was those dumb moments where you might have believed in fate, destiny and even love? And yet when there was a literal goddess hovering in between them, such brief moments weren't spared the chance to actually grow or be nurtured.

It didn't last when you've got the Goddess Aurora throwing light rays from the night sky.

Oh, Goddess Aurora might have been the one who tore through her wretched brother's old things—but once she saw Li Yang's face, the Goddess' attention now shifted away from the pithy Damask Insurgents to the man who held an uncanny resemblance to her brother.

Maybe it was him—or maybe it wasn't.

A Goddess didn't care and just did whatever she liked.

Until Bao finally took the reins of the vessel and redirected the light ray towards the veil that covered the lands of Mashiro Temple itself. Somewhere in a span of a thousands of miles away, a certain artifact that produced Aseroth's old darkness started malfunctioning.

The reproduced thing wasn't as great as the actual thing that sometimes—only sometimes—nullified Aurora's light.

Li Yang and Mitsuko both entered the Sacred Forest and lost sight of one another.

It was almost uncanny now that Li Yang realized how the dimension grew and warped in the forest. He couldn't hear anything beyond the forest now and when he looked behind him, it was almost as if the Goddess and the temple itself were already long gone.

The same way that the darkness that probably stemmed from the Damask Insurgents covered and grew over the lands of Mashiro Temple, this place was expanded and grew larger with an Ao energy that vibrated closer to much darker colors.

Li Yang didn't have any time to lose.

He started running and navigating through the forest. He sliced through the numerous branches of trees and roots to keep himself from slowing down at all.

Li Yang's initial plans was to seize on Beast Cores and then use them to escape, but it had been too difficult to try and head back to the High Priestess Rhelea's Grand Hall to find the treasury.historical

The Goddess Aurora was ready to snipe him from above and it was only a matter of time before she could land the lucky shot on him.

He grunted and kept looking ahead of him. If he paid more attention or perhaps talked with Setsuko more, or asked her then perhaps he would have known where the exact location of the arena was.

The man didn't have all morning like the last time.

Li Yang now depended on the next spot he knew that had the highest chance of containing Beast Cores and it was where Setsuko was located.

The test arena surely had Beast Cores if they were going to award them to the ones who survived the Inner Court Priestess test—and he only needed a little bit more to use the World Warper.

Perhaps if he got the chance to see Setsuko one last time, then that was all the better. He really didn't think that he could take her, but the man would surely find a way back here once he returned to earth.

A certain part of him wanted to see Mitsuko as well, but with a literal Goddess targeting him.. that wasn't actually the best idea he'd ever have now.

Li Yang moved faster.

But then immediately started forming and pooling a large amount of Ao in his hands. Li Yang shut his eyes and allowed the Ao to disperse and expel all around him.

It was a stupid thing to forget amidst the sudden calamity that occurred within the Mashiro Temple. He was relying on Ao or qi to increase his body's capability.

However, he could also still use it to navigate and find the location of the arena.

The first wave of Ao that spread across him started reacting and taking note of different sources of Ao from the plants and herbs, stray creatures that lived here and it was a little distracting but manageable.

Li Yang learned how to tune out the other lesser sources of Ao with ease during his time with Mitsuko and what mattered was finding the one—there!

It was still deeper in the forest, but he found another source of Ao that was more bigger and powerful than the rest of the places where his spiritual senses and Ao scattered. Li Yang headed in that direction.

The closer he got there, a sensation formed within and around his stomach.

While the two of them were separated by a great distance, the thread and energy bond that connected Li Yang and Setsuko didn't seem to work quite well. Or rather he was not that focused on using it over such distances.

But as he started reaching closer and closer.

Something started to coil and churn within him. It didn't tell him that Setsuko was physically hurt, there was no semblance of pain that coursed between the two of them. What he could tell so far however was that Setsuko was currently facing something off.

Li Yang assumed it was the test, but still hurried in that direction.

.

.

.

.

.

"Are you running for your life or taking a leisurely jog in the park, bastard?!" A voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

Li Yang quickly swiped his sword and watched the blade phase through the body of a familiar Panda. Bao now floated right in front of him all of a sudden and he didn't know how the actual fuck it happened.

"It was easy to find you once I separated from the bitch—I'm the one who's in charge of finding you after all. Whether I like it or not, you're on my radar almost twenty-four seven—hey, why are you running away again?"

The CEO didn't wait for the Panda to finish his monologue once he picked up the sound of women in the arena.

—-—-

Author's Note: Today is July 8, 2021 and this is the fourth Privilege tier for this book that helps me to continue writing this story amidst, uh free passes and free reading. It allows me to earn at least 28% of the paid coins worth that you use to purchase this book. We still have one final tier to upload before normal updates resume, so thank you for the patience! Or maybe the lack of it if you've bought today xD Hello there future readers.