"Huh…"
Nux sighed as he stared at the Gate in front of him.
He had failed the Trial, and the Gate had appeared in front of him again. Since he had reached the very end of the river, the amount of 'water' his body had absorbed increased significantly, raising his power to an absurd degree.
If he left in this state, the Law he would receive would be quite strong.
He, however, had to make a quick decision here.
While his body had absorbed quite a lot of water, the rate at which it was releasing the water had also increased quite a bit. Nux was losing his newly gained power much quicker than before.
What's worse?
This loss of power wasn't stopping.
Even when Nux re-entered the River, reached the end of the River, failed again, and returned to the shore, the water in his body didn't get refilled; it stayed the sa as it was when he re-entered the river and…
It was still falling rapidly.
It was almost as if the Temple was telling him to hurry up and leave or…
Abandon whatever progress he had made and lose all his powers.
Nux stared at his palm, observing the water flowing out as he started thinking.
This Trial…
It was difficult.
Too difficult, in fact.
The Temple of Ti was created to help beings form Laws related to Ti. So technically, most beings who enter these Trials should only be Semi Saint or Saint Level Cultivators, cultivators without a Law.
This Trial, however… it was simply impossible for a Saint to clear it. Controlling the flow of 'water' inside his body and countering the aging and regressing of a million different parts of his body, all while trying to swim back to the surface—
No Saint Level Cultivator would be able to do it.
Heck, a Divine, Primordial, or even a Transcendent shouldn't be able to do it. Only Eternal Level beings, who have almost perfect control over their energy, would be able to reach as far as he did.
Why is a Trial designed for a Saint so difficult?
Sothing didn't feel right.
Yes, Nux did rember that the Trial was modified according to the Trial Taker's abilities, so it was likely that the difficulty was adjusted for him, but…
Weren't all his powers and abilities taken away anyway?
Here, he was no different than a mortal with a slightly stronger body. His presence shouldn't alter the Trial's degree to this extent.
Sothing was wrong.
No, Nux was missing sothing.
He closed his eyes and started thinking. His body continued to release all the water, losing all the power he had gained, but Nux didn't care.
His instincts told him that he needed to look at the Trial from a different perspective.
The Temple of Ti was created to help beings form Laws related to Ti…
No, that was not what the docunts Tenzin had given him said.
The Temple of Ti, it didn't help one form Laws related to Ti; it helped one understand Ti.
He was here to comprehend the Concept of Ti.
The river in front of him and the water inside him, it gave him power over ti. It taught him how to use this power, how to manipulate ti inside his body to resist the change outside.
This, however, was not the main goal.
After all, Nux still didn't understand the Concept of Ti; he just had the Power over it. The power he had depended on the amount of water he had absorbed.
It was never his power that ca from his understanding.
It was a distraction.
Just like the Gate.
The Trial was never about using the power gained to cross the river. This was also the reason the Temple made it impossible to clear the Trial that way. No one was supposed to reach the very end using the power given by the Trial; they should have drowned under the waves and returned to shore.
Only a monster like Nux could possibly use a borrowed power and get this far.
But even he couldn't clear the Trial using the wrong thod.
Nux realized it.
The Power given to him was rely a reference—sothing for him to lean on to understand Ti itself, or in this case, understand the Flow of Ti itself.
Nux sat down and started recalling everything he had done—how he controlled the 'water' inside his body to resist the 'water currents' outside.
As he continued to do that, his mind recalled the words Vashti had used in her report:
The water in the River of Eternity is a physical manifestation of Ti itself.
If the water was ti, the water currents were the Flow of Ti. What Nux was doing all this while was going against the violent Flow of Ti while using the energy inside his own body.
Not a very smart decision.
After all, the energy inside his body was limited. So was the 'space'; he couldn't move the energy around as he desired.
He needed to do sothing different.
He needed to clear the Trial the way it was ant to be cleared.
He needed to understand the Flow of Ti and learn how to change it through his will.
With that thought in his mind, Nux once again started replaying everything that happened when he tried to cross the river. He observed how the Flow of Ti changed his body, he observed when it was violent and when it was comparatively calm, he also analyzed how the Power of Ti he had absorbed worked.
Nux sat there for weeks, or maybe it was months, years, or decades—he didn't know. The Flow of Ti in this place was different.
It couldn't be clearly sensed, neither did he try to.
Only when he felt that he was ready did he finally open his eyes and stare at the River of Eternity in front of him.
Then, he stood up, stepped forward, and suddenly, he disappeared and appeared right in front of the river.
No, he didn't teleport—he didn't have that ability here.
What he did have here, however, was the ability to alter the Flow of Ti around him.
Yes, using the river as a reference, the monster had comprehended a way to manipulate the Flow of Ti.
He had ford a new Law.
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