Looking down towards the black heart that he would have to move past if he wanted to complete the main quest, Xuan Hao could not help hesitating. Even if he had not seen the black heart attack, he did not doubt that it had the ability to do this. After all, if it didn't have any ability to protect itself outside of the restrictive power, there was no way that the phantoms roaming the ancient battlefield would have left it alone.
But… The reward from the main quest was far too tempting for him to just let go without and given that the black heart had still not managed to notice him at this point in time, he felt confident that he should be able to sneak past it without getting discovered and find the last secret mentioned by the system before leaving.
In the first place, he didn't need to fight against the black heart or take anything away…
"Hm… I will try approaching the black heart for now. If it shows any signs of attacking or does anything suspicious, I will escape immediately." Muttering this to himself as he came to a decision, Xuan Hao looked around himself in search of a safe path that he could use to move past the black heart without getting discovered.
Luckily for Xuan Hao, there was a long stone structure attached to the sides of the construct's insides located no more than a few meters away from the collapsed platform that he was on top of going right past the black heart. Although he had no idea what kind of purpose the stone structure had served in the past, he was certain that it would be his best shot at moving past the black heart without getting discovered.
Whoosh~!
Not wasting any time after having come to a decision, Xuan Hao silently flew towards the large stone structure before starting to slowly descend down towards the black heart. Not daring to descend too fast, as it might end up revealing his presence.
Thumb~ Thumb~ Thumb~
Getting closer to the black heart, Xuan Hao could clearly hear it beating in a slow and powerful rhythm, as the purplish liquid from inside the black heart was pumped into the construct. Almost like it was trying to transform the construct from something made of stone and metal, into something made of flesh and blood.
What was more shocking, was that Xuan Hao could actually see this happening in the area around the place where the black heart was located, as the surrounding stones had turned into some sort of grotesque mess of blood and flesh. Making Xuan Hao even more certain that the black heart was indeed still in the process of taking control of the construct and had still not managed to succeed.
After all, if it had succeeded and was in control over the construct, it would no longer be a construct made of stone, but would instead be some sort of abomination made of blood and flesh. Not something he would have dared enter no matter what kind of reward the system would offer him!
Trying his best to ignore everything about the black heart as he slowly made his way past it, Xuan Hao could not help showing a surprised expression on his face after discovering what was hidden behind the black heart.
"A flame?"
Indeed, behind the black heart, completely surrounded by the weird messy flesh that had grown from the black heart, a tiny flame could barely be seen burning gently without showing any signs of being affected by the flesh all around it.
On the contrary, it was the messy flesh that had grown from the black heart that was affected by the tiny flame, as the flesh surrounding the tiny flame would burst into flames from time to time. Sending some of the flames back towards the black heart, where the black heart would then have to use all of its strength in an attempt to resist the flames from destroying it.
From the looks of it, the reason why the black heart had not attacked him was not because it did not notice him, but instead because it was far too busy dealing with the tiny flame and simply didn't have any energy to spare to attack him.
Now knowing that he should be safe from the black heart attacking him as long as the tiny flame was around, Xuan Hao was not in a hurry to leave the construct any longer as he began observing the tiny flame that was preventing the black heart from expanding and gaining more control over the construct.
"What is that flame?" Seeing how the black heart was using all of its strength trying to suppress the tiny flame, Xuan Hao could not help wondering just what the flame was and how it was related to the construct.
[Main Quest: Explore the Core of the Ancient Battlefield, Part 2 (complete)]
[Progress: 4/4 Secrets Discovered (complete)]
[Reward: Strengthen Dao Domain]
"Hm? The main quest was completed?"
Just at this moment, a system panel appeared in front of him. Signaling that he had completed the main quest, while also confirming that the thing resisting the black heart was indeed the tiny flame in front of him.
Wait… Did the description for the fourth secret change…?
Remembering how the system had given him a simple description of the different secrets when he had viewed the main quest just a short time earlier, Xuan Hao did not waste a second before expanding the text below the progress part of the quest. Showing him the simple description of the four secrets again.
"First secret, find the crater- Second find construct- Third-" Looking through the four simple descriptions, it did not take long before he found the fourth one at the bottom.
[4: Move past the black heart and find the tiny ember of phoenix fire resisting the black hearts attempt to take control of the construct and transform it into it an abomination of the Dao of Corruption.]
It did indeed change! But… A tiny ember of phoenix fire? The tiny flame is actually only the embers of phoenix fire? Just how powerful would the fire be if it was not just a few embers barely keeping the black heart at bay…?
Seeing the new description that had been added about the tiny flame in front of him, Xuan Hao could not help showing a look of awe on his face as he looked towards the tiny flame that was resisting the black heart without a single problem.
Just at this moment, as Xuan Hao was looking towards the tiny flame filled with awe at just how powerful it was, the tiny flame suddenly flared up-
FWOOOSH-!
The tiny flame that had only been the size of a small apple, suddenly grew at a speed visible to the naked eye. Instantly reducing the messy flesh and veins carrying the purplish liquid from the black heart into the rest of the construct's body. Not leaving anything behind, as everything was reduced to ashes. Only the black heart remained, as it was doing its best to just barely resist the tiny flame that had suddenly burnt down all of its hard work and engulfed it completely with the clear goal of destroying it.
As a result of the black heart losing what little control over the construct that it had managed to build up over a period of thousands upon thousands of years, the construct that was currently standing up under the support of the black heart-
RUMBLE-!
Lost its support and fell towards the ground!
"Whaaaa-!"
Taking Xuan Hao by surprise, as he could only let out a surprised scream upon suddenly feeling himself plumet down towards the ground together with the construct.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM-!
Not a second later, the construct crashed into the ground. Sending the black heart that was no longer attached to the construct through the veins and other flesh tumbling around the large space inside the body of the construct. The tiny flame still engulfed it completely during all of this. Continuing to burn through the black heart, causing its size to noticeably decrease compared to the first time Xuan Hao had seen it.
"Hm? The restrictive power disappeared!?" Watching all of this unfold as he stabilized himself a few centimeters above the ground, Xuan Hao suddenly realized that the restrictive power that had restricted him before had completely disappeared at some point during the battle between the tiny flame and the black heart. Allowing him to use his dao domain and divine sense once again. Even then, Xuan Hao had no intention of staying behind to watch the battle between the two unfold. Understanding very well that it would be dangerous, and more importantly, he wouldn't really gain anything from staying behind…
Swish-!
With this in mind, Xuan Hao began ascending towards the head of the construct where the way out was located-
Whoosh~!
However, just as Xuan Hao began making his way towards the hole in the head of the construct that he had used to enter it, the tiny flame that had expanded to engulf the black hear separated from it before returning to its original size.
Seeing this, Xuan Hao had at first thought that the tiny flame had been exhausted by the black heart-
"Ha? AH!?"
But this thought quickly turned into fear, as he realized that the tiny flame was heading straight for him!