"Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder if you were born with the highest tier Spirit Root, the world would definitely be different."

The Infernal Dragon chuckled, hearing this Emperal shook his head.

"I don’t think so, the world would still be the same."

The Infernal Dragon didn’t say anything further, noticing its silence. Emperal dragged himself inside the room.

The second chamber was smaller than the first, roughly fifteen meters. The moment he entered, he felt his body almost burst!

"This...does such pure Verth even exist?"

Emperal muttered with his eyes wide open. It was not your regular, colourless and formless Verth. There was no ambient blue-gold luminescence here...only concentrated Verth.

The walls were so saturated with Verth that, Emperal did not doubt, these walls alone could cause a war in the outside world.

And in the center of it all, there it was. Emperal’s eyes blurred as he looked at it directly.

A few meters ahead, there was a small pool, which was completely still. Its surface seemed undisturbed through the ages.

Hovering above it was an object, a small vessel of one foot in length and twenty inches wide. It had a wide open mouth with four curved handles supporting it. It was similar to a high-tier cauldron.

The only difference being...aura.

"Yes Emperal, that thing right there is the real deal. I have only seen a dozen in my entire lifetime. And I don’t think it would be that easy to obtain it...be careful."

"I understand."

Emperal nodded, of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that thing right there was free.

Emperal’s face hardened, and he slowly walked towards the edge. More specifically, the pool beneath the vessel.

Looking up close, he saw a glowing liquid flowing from it. He didn’t notice it from far, but up close, he finally looked at it. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The Laminar flow.

Even below the pool, there wasn’t a single ripple. The pure Verth was flowing in a laminar flow.

"What a mystical thing."

Emperal muttered, his injuries were healing at a breathtaking speed, thanks to his Elven blood.

It was still a mystery to him why the hell his blood was suddenly acting up after so many years.

He didn’t even get the basic ’strong’ regeneration the common Elves had.

But he ignored that. Bending his knees, he put his hand inside the pool.

Mistake number one: never touch any unknown sources or materials.

The moment his hand touched the surface, his vision blurred.

"...Huh?"

His eyes rolled back, and the pool swallowed him whole as he sank deep within the abyss. Then it hit...his most painful memory.

...

The Dragon Lord’s tournament grounds. Emperal’s eyes snapped open as he looked around.

"Kill!! Kill!! Kill!! Kill!!"

"DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Trash! Trash! Trash! Trash!"

Frowning his brows, he looked around. And the familiarity hit, the old memories he tried to bury hit him.

But unfortunately for the pool’s powers...this was Emperal, it had tried to trick.

"What a nasty test of willpower."

Emperal snorted, looking down, he discovered that he could move freely—and move, he did.

He changed his position and floated above, looking down at the past Emperal.

"This sure brings back memories, even if they were some nasty ones."

The Dragon Lord’s tournament grounds. He recognized it almost immediately. Looking down, he looked at himself.

He was on the training ground, with a sharp sword in his hand. Given by Vraelyn herself. He was bleeding from three different places, but he was still standing.

In the next moment, his eyes turned cold. Even if he knew this was an illusion, the reality in which he had faced this...was still as fresh.

Till now, he was doing well. Entering the top twenty, he was up against a young man in his mid-twenties.

This entire tournament was designed to humiliate him, a Dormant Stage Spirit Root.

In this tournament, the Dragon Clan’s finest young cultivators had arrived from each corner. And amongst all these geniuses and their overpowered abilities, Emperal had held his own. He was the sole Stage Two Verth Seeker among the cultivators.

"Hmph, bunch of trash. Dare to talk about my Spirit Root, when they themselves bleed beneath my sword."

The opponent standing across him was a dragon-blood cultivator. With a common dragon bloodline flowing in his veins. He was strong, to say the least.

But right now, he was breathing harder than Emperal; there were hundreds of slashes across his body.

The crowd had gone quiet; it seemed they hadn’t expected Emperal to even stand against the man. Which was pretty stupid in itself since he came all the way to the top.

Then it happened.

"That’s enough, end this farce."

An arrogant voice boomed over the arena, making all heads snap in her direction. The Dragon Princess descended, her disdain and arrogance visible to all.

It was her usual face, but this time. Something was different; her eyes, alongside disdain, carried a far worse emotion—Disgust.

The moment her eyes landed on Emperal, her face twisted in pure disgust.

"This...bitch"

A fresh, green vein popped on his forehead when he saw this. But, he didn’t let his emotions get hold of him. Quickly calming down, he observed.

The Dragon Princess looked down from above, "How could such a loathsome existence even be allowed to participate in this tournament?"

Her voice was sharp like swords, and it did exactly what was intended to do.

Emperal frowned when he heard those words, "Princess, I believe there was no such restriction mentioned when I signed for the tournament."

The moment his voice echoed, the entire crowd of cultivators erupted in jeers and curses.

"BOOO!!! How dare he argue back to the princess?"

"Break his bones!!"

"Throw that trash out!!"

And they were the nicest of all, still there was no ripple in Emperal’s eyes as he looked at the Princess floating above.

"You lowly creature, it is my wish. If I do not like such trash, I won’t care about any such rules. How dare you question me back?"

The Dragon Princess spoke, her voice booming across the arena. Emperal gritted his teeth when he heard such humiliating words. Despite that, he still held back.

"Then I’ll thank you for the opportunity given to me by the princess. I’ll take my leave."

He cupped his fists towards the princess and turned around. Intending to leave.

"Who said you could leave the ground, you trash?"