A few minutes passed in silence before he stood up. The torrent of rain had washed away the majority of the char, leaving only flawless skin. All of the scars he had suffered throughout his life were gone.
He had never planned for such a miraculous effect. In his estimations, the fire would cause the flower to fuse with him, and give him a much better increase in longevity, as well as increase his healing from the damage the fire caused.
However, the moment the lightning struck him, everything changed. All his plans and estimations went out the window.
The lightning caused some sort of much greater effect, essentially causing him to rebirth, completely changing himself.
If he had to give it a reason, he estimated that it was not only because of the extremely powerful nature of lightning, which surely counted as a new ingredient, and one stronger than all of the others, but also because lightning was much closer to the energy of Heaven and Earth than rain.
Regardless, this was an unprecedented stroke of good fortune for him.
Skymender began to walk. His body was much stronger than before. He began to sprint. His speed was fast, so fast he could barely believe it. It was even faster than his horse.
If he had to estimate, his speed was even greater than the speed of a normal first rank Sword Master. His strength was most likely just as incredible as well.
As for his increased longevity, he had no clue. He seemed around twenty years old, but even when he had been twenty, he had never quite looked this good.
His skin was so pure it almost seemed feminine. He seemed almost mythical.
Skymender eventually stopped testing himself. All he knew was that everything had changed with this. He wasn't even sure if he should return to the Scholar Region or the Empire.
There was not much for him in either place.
He also did not believe that he would be able to conceal his transformation. After thinking about it, Skymender packed everything up and got on his horse. He then began to ride deeper into the Temple Region.
Although they were very disconnected from the rest of the continent, they were not so reclusive as to antagonize anyone who entered. Otherwise, why would any new people join the Temple?
Skymender rode for a while before finding a city. At the entrance was a statue of their god, Yhwh.
He rode into the city. He received looks from most people, as not everyone rode a horse through this small city. He also received many glances from girls, who saw his looks and couldn't help but admire him. Of course, he was much older than them, but they had no way to tell that.
Even his hair was a bit longer, to the point he wanted to cut it.
But for some reason, he had an urge to grow it out. In cultivation novels, the best characters usually had longer hair.
At the very least, it wouldn't hurt to see what he looked like when it was grown out. He could always cut it if he didn't like it.
Skymender did not stop until he reached a temple. In the Temple Region, every city, town, or village had a temple, whether it was big or small.
Skymender left his horse at the entrance and began to walk up the stairs. He was stopped by someone in priest garments as he neared the entrance.
"You don't seem familiar." He said.
He did not physically stop Skymender, merely talking to him.
"I'm just traveling, and came to see the Temple." Skymender said plainly.
The priest nodded. "Well, have a good time. Remember not to make any trouble." The priest said.
When he entered, the room was darker than outside. Although the area was lit up by torches, Skymender could simply sense through vibrations if necessary. In fact, he was constantly looking with both his eyes and vibrations. The only difference was that he only used vibrations in areas he couldn't see with his eyes.
It formed a unique vision.
Skymender saw paintings on walls, small altars for offerings, and eventually a large statue with many people praying beneath it.
Skymender had just stopped here to look around, and see if he could find anything interesting. He turned around after seeing nothing.
He left the Temple and continued deeper into the Temple Region. He planned to visit the capital. It only took an hour before reaching another city. This one was much larger. With the Temple Region being as small and condensed as it was, the travel was pleasant.
Skymender looked around in this city's temple, but found nothing unusual.
He started to doubt himself. The Imperial Capital's temple definitely contained a few secrets, and he had never visited the one in the Ancient Empires Imperial City.
Therefore, he decided to see what secrets he could find here.
Skymender moved closer and closer to the capital, never once finding anything unusual about the temples. He even met a few high priests and priestesses.
After three days, Skymender reached the capital of the Temple Region. Such a short travel demonstrated just how small the Temple Region was.
Skymender entered the city freely. The first thing he noticed was just how cramped this place was. There was hardly any room to move. Although there were carriages, they had to move extremely slow. Otherwise, they would run over a bunch of people.
The houses were also packed and condensed. He imagined that houses here were smaller yet more expensive than houses elsewhere.
This place was truly worthy of being called a capital with how many people gathered here.
Skymender struggled to navigate through the crowd. As he moved towards the temple, there were even more people. However, Skymender was becoming better at navigating, and since any person he bumped into lost in the brief competition of strength, falling to the ground, he was able to move around much easier.
Eventually, he made it to the stairs of the temple.