Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Chapter 280: The Lands of the Shards

White mountain-like towers gleamed at every path they took as they walked on the reflective streets of the Skywarden city.

’This is huge,’ Leon thought as he shifted his gaze upward, following the height of the tower he had just moved past. He blinked twice when he saw the top of the tower cutting through the colorful blue sky as if it had no end.

"It’s good he came along." Lord Hayes of the Cobalt Sect walked to Overlord Luo Fang and shook hands with him.

He kept one eye locked on Lord Hei Yung and the other on the despicable boy he wished had been scraped off the face of the earth. ’It is finally getting over with you, Leon Storm!’

A faint smile that did not touch Hei Yung’s lips appeared on his face when Hayes’s full attention fell on him. "It’s been a while, Hayes."

He hissed silently when Hayes did not respond, then shifted his gaze to Leon.

’Where do these people come from?’ Leon said in his head while focusing his gaze on the humanoid creatures walking on the surface of the blue, white, and pink ocean.

Hei Yung moved a step closer to Leon, then pointed a hand toward the pink sea. "Are you overwhelmed with the city of the Lotus Maw Sect?"

Leon shifted a raised brow and a confused face to Hei Yung. "Lotus Maw Sect? I thought they were just legends in books."

Hei Yung wrapped his arm around Leon’s neck while they walked past towers. "They are not legends. Every single thing you have seen in books exists in this world. It is just that you haven’t met them yet."

When they reached a street that had a fast-moving disc on it, saliva snaked down Leon’s throat, but he had no fear in his eyes. ’Then I cannot wait to meet all of them.’

Overlord Luo Fang turned a sharp gaze at Leon and Hei Yung, then hissed. "Enough of the teaching to someone who has a short life. The elders are already waiting."

Leon’s cheeks raised with delight while he inhaled the cool air drifting across their faces as if Overlord Luo Fang’s words were just a bitter nuisance.

He watched Hayes and Overlord Luo Fang’s feet lift into the air then stop at the front of the reeling disc.

Hei Yung shifted glances between the moving street and Leon’s face. "Since you cannot levitate like us."

The base of his boots lifted while his blue cloak flapped on his skin as if a cooling system had been installed in his body. "You should use this to take you to the disc to follow us."

Leon blinked at Hei Yung, then shifted a sharp gaze to the round ground in front of him. ’If I let them know I can levitate, they will have more things to talk about.’

He shifted his gaze to Hayes and Overlord Luo Fang who were already in the skies with their arms folded on their chests. ’But if I use this, then I will minimize it and be able to get home early.’

"Sure."

A series of synchronized vibrations lanced through the rock when Leon lifted his right leg and placed it on it. ’This is much more slippery than my kinetic-drift shield.’

The blades of the Hi-no-Kami, the kinetic-drift shield at his back, and the red-gold cloth wrapped around his neck all flapped on Leon’s blackened suit as the drift rock hurled him forward like a jet.

The skies of the Skywarden began changing the moment Leon saw blackened trees with dead fruit hanging on them at a far distance. ’What place is this?’

The translucent panel shimmered to life before Leon’s eyes when he felt a rift in the air as if he had entered into a different world altogether the moment he passed by the first dead tree.

[SYSTEM WARNING!!!]

Hostile Environment Detected.

Country: Seol-Mujin

City: Shards City

Environment Signature: Dominance Continuum.

Warning: Fresh but dangerous flow of air which exceeds measurable existence thresholds.

’Hmph, this is an interesting city in this Seol-Mujin country.’

...

The moving drift rock stopped at the front of a large tower built with metal that seemed softer at sight but harder by touch.

The moment Overlord Luo Fang, Lord Hayes of the Cobalt Sect, and Lord Hei Yung lowered themselves to Leon’s level, a gust of wind blew the fallen black leaves off the ground.

Hei Yung turned to Leon and blinked once. "Wait here."

Leon’s eyelids raised when he watched Overlord Luo Fang, Lord Hayes, and Lord Hei Yung materialize into the shimmering tower. ’How did they do that?’

A faint smile tore on his face the moment the moving waves of the towers stopped. He walked toward the tower, then placed his palms on it.

A bolt of lightning passed through his bones when he closed his eyes. Just as he cracked them open, the walls of the tower splattered open like liquid water.

Leon moved his right leg inside and, in a flash, he saw countless versions of himself moving past him as if passing through time itself.

A new world with magnificent creatures like the ten-tailed fox, dragons without wings but which could fly, and other mystical creatures appeared before him.

’Are they all real?’ He thought while shifting glances from them one at a time until he saw Hei Yung looking at him with teasing eyes.

Hei Yung shook his head and tilted his gaze forward. "Welcome to the lands of the Shards. The third most powerful beings on earth."

Hayes tilted his head toward Hei Yung and Leon, then hissed. ’What a waste of energy.’

His shoulders raised up when he and Overlord Luo Fang began walking toward the central city of the Shards.

Hayes’s composure died down when a loud howling sound lanced through the air. All the mystical creatures turned their gazes to the entrance of the Shards city and roared at the swirling black vortex moving with the speed of sound.

Overlord Luo Fang stood there rigid while Lord Hayes moved and stood behind him as if using him as a shield.

Lord Hei Yung stretched his hands to hold Leon when the ground began shaking, but Leon just looked at him, then smiled. "I’m okay."

’How the fuck would he tell me he is okay when everything is feeling the presence of the Lotus Maw Monarch’s welcome signature and freezing?’ Hei Yung thought while keeping a close gaze on Leon.

A sharp pink light seeped out of the vortex and passed by their front like sound. Inside it, a two-faced lady with a snake tongue blinked at Leon before appearing at the front of the Council Tower a hundred meters away from them.

The moment the vortex vanished, all the mystical creatures returned to their various posts and continued harvesting the grasses on the land.

Leon neared Hei Yung with a confused expression on his face. "What was that?"

Hei Yung pointed at the black snake-tailed beings walking at the far distance and nodded. "That is the fifth strongest being on Seol-Mujin."

’So who are the strongest of this country?’ Leon thought as they walked toward the Council tower.

With every Shard they walked by, Leon saw red lights flickering on their covered faces, but he kept moving even when he knew they had their faceless heads directed toward him.