Alex felt his hopes being torn to shreds when he heard Bladedanceâs words.
"Godslayer, is she correct?" he asked.
"Axiom isnât a power you can use right away, at least not to its fullest extent," Godslayer answered. "You need to be in the Celestial realm before you can lay it around you as a law. If what she is saying is true, then the Hell Emperor mustâve used the moment of his ascension to the Celestial Axiom realm to turn a portion of the world around him into his Principle."
"He rewrote the law around him, causing the Prison Wall to stop functioning," Godslayer said.
Godslayer made it sound bad, but Alex knew it was much worse.
If applying oneâs Axiom around them as a law alone was enough, the Hell Emperor wouldâve easily taken the others with him. But even with all that he had accomplished, he had only been able to momentarily change the law around him, giving him just the shortest amount of time to leave.
It would likely take Bladedance a lot of willpower to have the sky open up for long enough to take him away with herâwillpower that she did not have.
âAnd I promised the old man too,â Alex thought.
Things were getting worse and worse.
"Even if we were to escape this place somehow, what then?" Bladedance asked. "What do you think we could do after that?"
"We could leave," Alex said in a solemn tone.
"And go where? The outer space is vast," Bladedance said. "The sun would burn you up before you could even go a single day."
"I have ships," Alex said. "A Divine ship too. We can use it."
"Let me guess. Itâs in your Soul Space?" Bladedance asked.
Alex nodded.
"The same Soul Space that is sealed?" she asked again.
Alex nodded, but with a bit more hesitation. "I was hoping to get rid of the seal by the time we were ready to leave, but itâs turning out to be harder than I thought it would be."
"Hah!" Bladedance laughed. "Harder? That is the word you want to use to describe the Storm Godâs seal?"
Alex shrugged. "I donât think he tried that hard to seal me," he said. "Either he thought I was too weak, or he thought I would have no way of breaking through the seal in Hell, so he used a weak one."
Bladedance narrowed her eyes. "Quickstorm and half-assery... they donât go together."
Alex had no other reply.
"I... donât think I understand what either of you two are talking about," the old man said from the side, failing to keep up with their conversation.
"Weâre saying we canât leave Hell," Bladedance said. "At least not unless you have a way to help me restore my spirit back to how it was."
"We could try some formations," the old man said. "But... I canât guarantee they will work on someone as strong as you. From what I am understanding, you withstood the array of our sectâs entire upper echelon."
Bladedance nodded. "I suppose thatâs not happening then. That means Iâll have to spend many more millennia in Hell before I could ever leave." She turned toward Alex. "Cheer up, kid. If by that time I can confirm that youâre good enough to not have to suffer in Hell, Iâll take you with me as well."
That brought no satisfaction to Alex at all. Why the hell would he spend millennia here anyway? By that time, he would likely be close to the Celestial realm himself.
"Hmm," the old man thought for a moment. "There might be a way. Itâs a tiny, tiny chance really, but... we still have hope."
Alex turned toward the old man. "What do you mean, senior? What hope is there still?" he asked.
"You see, I can make a formation to improve her spirit, but it likely wonât work because none of the power sources we have are good enough for her," the old man said. "However..."
He pointed down.
"You remember whatâs down there, right?"
Alex thought for a bit and nodded. "Either a Yin spirit vein, or some sort of metal formation."
The old man nodded. "A metal matrix that runs across most of Hell. If itâs a Yin vein, maybe thereâs a way to repurpose that energy. If itâs a metal formation, then it has a power source. Either way, the energy that is required to either form or run those things has to be massive."
Alexâs eyes slowly widened. "Yes!" he said. There was no confirmation that any of what the old man was saying was true, but there was something he was beginning to lose now.
Hope.
The old man gave him his hope back.
Alex didnât really have any expectations whatsoever, but he didnât need one. He was going to find whatever he was going to find and make a decision afterward.
"Okay... I am lost now. Anyone care to explain what is going on?" Bladedance asked.
Alex explained to her what was going on, with Godslayer listening in on everything.
"Elixir?" Bladedance said with a thoughtful look.
"Itâs all throughout your body, which is why you have the body cultivation of a Divinity right now," Alex said. "You will, however, need to cultivate a little to make that permanent."
"Okay... and this elixir comes from these veins underground?" she asked.
Alex nodded.
"And all of these veins lead directly in there?" she asked again, pointing to the invisible wall.
Alex nodded again.
"I see," she said with a thoughtful look. "So thatâs what you mean by a power source inside. I donât remember the Hell Emperor talking about any of these things, so even he mustâve never gone through here."
"These beasts were far too strong for us back then," the old man said. "We shouldâve come and checked here once he reached the Celestial realm, but he left before he had the chance to and never returned."
Bladedance nodded. "Then I guess we are the only ones who can find out," she said. "And let us hope, for all our sakes, luck is on our side this time."