Chapter 189: Iron City
Time passed by slowly and even after several hours, the four were still above the clouds flying toward the west with crazy speed.
Just like before Greg was consuming the energy crystals one after another, yet even after consuming close to 20 High-Class energy crystals, he couldn't make the layer to form a connection between the First and the Second Flow.
"This can't go on like this. I definitely do something wrong."
As Greg said this, he took out another energy crystal from his shadow and started to consume it, but this time he tried out something different.
Until this moment, he tried to form the connection between the two Flows by moving the layer with his will. He thought it will move just like any of his body parts, but it needed some time.
Yet, even after several failed attempts, wasting his precious energy crystals, Greg couldn't make the layer to move.
Because of this, Greg decided to try out, what if he tries to use his First Flow and maybe he will be able to make the layer around it to form a connection with the Second Flown.
With that in mind, Greg activated his First Flow, making small and almost invisible wind vortexes appear around his body.
As this happened, the First Flow inside his body lit up with a blinding greyish-white light and inside it, the wind power started to move with crazy speed instantly.
Seeing this, however, Greg didn't care about the First Flow at all but instead started to concentrate on the layer around it.
Just like before, he has consumed the energy crystal, making the layer to tremble slightly, but this time there was a slight change. This time Greg could feel a dim connection between him and the cycle's layer, but it was very faint. So faint that he could have easily missed it if he wouldn't have concentrated on the Flow the moment he activated it.
"But I still can't make it to move. Something is still missing.", thought Greg calmly and started to think.
"I needed to activate my Flow just to feel a connection with the layer, yet I couldn't make it to move to form a connection with the Second Flow. Just if I could make the Flow's positi-, wait! Can I?"
Suddenly Greg stopped thinking because and an idea popped up in his head.
"What if I try to move the cycle itself instead of the layer? Like that, if I'm careful enough I will be able to form a connection, no?"
With that in mind Greg started to concentrate even more, but this time instead of trying to move the layer, he concentrated on the First Flow itself.
And just as he did that...
"It won-, Bleargh!", said Greg with pleasant surprise as he watched he could make the cycle's position inside his body move, however, the moment he did, a huge amount of blood came out from his mouth.
"!"
The three experts seeing this looked at Greg with shock not knowing what just happened.
"How could you make something so foolish? Do you have a death wish or what?", asked Alice with an angry voice, making Greg to realize he did something he shouldn't have done.
"Are you alright?", asked Eliana with a frown before Greg as she tried to figure out what happened.
Clearing the blood off from the corner of his mouth, Greg raised his head and with a nod, he said, "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. I just made a mistake in my cultivation."
The moment the three experts heard this looked at each other with a frown, not knowing what was Greg possibly talk about.
In normal cultivation, if one makes a mistake in their cultivation or while attempting a breakthrough, there should be no such thing as injury, but only exhaustion. What happened to Greg was more than abnormal.
Seeing their confused gazes, Greg waved his hand and said, "It was truly a mistake. My powers could become quite strange sometimes."
Hearing this, Eliana, Zane, and Cloud looked a bit relaxed, and after checking on Greg that he was okay, they continued to ignore him.
Greg seeing that the three finally looked away from him, sighed and asked Alice, "What happened? It was like someone torn out my guts right from my stomach. It was hella painful."
Alice in Greg's head stayed calm for a while and only after a but did she start to explain.
"Your Flows are carved into your body. Just like the veins, the flesh, the bones, and everything else inside your body, the Flows are immovable subjects to you. If you try to move them away from their original position, it's like you just want to tear your own limbs off. If I were you, I wouldn't do something so stupid ever again."
The moment Greg heard this, huge drops of sweat started to flow down from his forehead, making him a bit anxious instantly.
Thinking about that he could have died just like that, made Greg pray for the gods above that luckily he stopped in time.
As he thought about this, Greg exhaled the air slowly, and after the pain dissipated from his body, he closed his eyes and continued to consume the energy crystal in his hand.
However, as he did, he found with surprise that the first point between the First Flow and the Second Flow was touching each other perfectly without mixing the two Flows together.
"Did I accidentally made a bridge?", thought Greg and activated his First Flow.
Instantly as he did this, the vortexes around his body appeared, making him feel that he could use the wind element any given moment if he wished to.
However, what surprised him the most, that his Second Flow was still inactive.
"Should I try activating it?", thought Greg and without hesitation, he activated his Second Flow.
Immediately as he did that, the small bridge he made lit up, and while the vortexes stayed around his body, crimson flames appeared around Greg's palm.
"Woah!"
Greg watched as both the First and Second Flow streamed inside his body at the same time. However, this happiness of his didn't last for too long, because after exactly 5 seconds the light between the two Flows has faded away, making the First flow to turn inactive instantly and leaving the Second Flow active.
"This is something else.", thought Greg calmly and wanted to use this power again, but before he could have done it, suddenly Cloud's voice sounded from before him.
"We have arrived.", said Cloud and pointed before him.
Hearing this, Greg raised his head only to see a huge city before him in the middle of a small forest. Around it, Greg could see 3 mountains, while on the mountains a huge wall could be seen going around, protecting the city in the middle.
"That is Iron City? Looks quite protected from above here", thought Greg, and just as he thought about this, suddenly Cloud controlled the fog toward the right side of the city wall.
Under a few seconds, they arrived before the massive wall, where a huge gate could be seen.
Before it, several guards in iron armor could be seen, and what was even more surprising that each of them was on the Ascender rank, making Greg feel that this place was truly well protected.
"Identity, please!"
A woman guard, which was in a different, obsidian-colored armor walked forward, while her hand was on the hilt of her sword.
Greg hearing this was insanely shocked and thought, "Is this woman gone crazy? Doesn't she recognize the three experts before her? Does she need their identities? Just how strict the defense of this place truly is?"
However, even like this, Cloud didn't look angry at all and after hearing this stepped forward and gave four cards to the woman.
Taking over the cards, the woman read carefully each of them and after a while, she handed them back to Cloud.
"Welcome to Iron City.", said the woman calmly and stepped to the side.
"Thank you my Lady.", said Cloud with a polite bow, and without hesitation, he started to walk through the gate with Greg, Eliana, and Zane following behind his back slowly.
When the four figure's vanished completely from sight, the woman glanced at a man in iron armor on the side and said, "Report back that they have finally arrived."
"Yes, Ma'am!, shouted the man with a salute, and without any further hesitation, it ran away hurriedly.
The woman seeing this nodded slightly and turned her head toward the gate.
Because it was already nighttime the moment those four arrived, the city's breathtaking light could be seen beautifully in the distance, making anyone mesmerized by the sight. Yet even like this for some reason, the woman just looked before her with a completely unfazed expression and sighed slightly.
Unknown what she was thinking about, she turned back around without saying a single word, and after she took up a solid posture that looked quite dominant, she started to watch the outside scenery with hawk-like gazes in silence.