Chapter 20 – Supreme Form (Part 4):
"Be careful, Exalted Fane."
Great Mercy Tree Sovereign Manlina also noticed the red-and-blue intertwined swastika, but at the same time saw the barrier.
A barrier radiating divine light, with a faint, hidden mark of the Fire Lingam.
The instant her divine awareness touched it, even she—a high main god—felt a pulse of destructive dread.
Fane gave her a reassuring smile, then stepped forward boldly, treating the barrier as nothing, ready to seize the red-and-blue swastika.
Bang~!
Suddenly, Fane felt a sharp pain in his forehead, and the swastika seemed to drift farther away.
It wasn't that the swastika moved—it was he who was propelled backward.
"What…?"
Fane was stunned.
How could the barrier repel him?
This was a barrier set by the Supreme Karma of the Mind, yet he was its Supreme Consciousness, and consciousness should surpass will.
The Supreme Karma should not dare resist him!
Was it… rebelling?
The swastika protected by the barrier was in fact an intangible abstract substance of the universe, the very foundation of Brahma's creation.
When Brahma created the universe, he first gave birth to three abstract substances: wisdom, consciousness, and sensation.
The red-and-blue intertwined swastika was a sliver of consciousness and sensation, extracted from Brahma's arrogant head due to his selfishness.
Fane had come for this sliver of essence.
Although it could not elevate his consciousness authority to full dominion, nor grant him the power of sensation, it could allow him to utilize the power of his own true body—Karma's power.
Even for just a single day, and despite restrictions, that was enough.
After all, Fane's true body was infinite, finite, conceptual, non-conceptual, conscious, unconscious, existent, and non-existent—Brahma itself.
Even with limitations, the power of Karma was sufficient for many feats, such as helping Earth Goddess Ximiovercome the fatal tribulations of the Primordial Calamity.
Ximi was his woman; how could he ignore her?
He had not yet reached the Indian level, incapable of treating a woman as an object.
In fact, Brahma's arrogant head not only contained a sliver of consciousness and sensation, but also most of the wisdom essence.
Alas, the wisdom essence was taken by Shiva when the head was removed.
(Shiva, becoming the Great Celestial, transformed the wisdom essence into his second son, the elephant god Ganesha, who would one day become the Supreme Brahma.)
"Exalted Fane, are you alright?"
Manlina rushed to his side, helping him up. In her panic, she even forgot to use the honorific.
"How could this happen? It shouldn't be!"
Confused, Fane muttered to himself.
"The energy in that Fire Lingam-marked barrier… it even frightens me."
Manlina's warning was clear: don't touch the barrier again.
This time, he had only been blasted away; the next encounter could destroy him, for it bore the mark of the Fire Lingam.
She recalled the legend: in the very beginning of the Primordial Era, Vishnu and Brahma had disputed the first life of the Great Brahma Primordial, nearly tearing the newborn universe apart.
At the critical moment, the Supreme Form of the Universe, the Fire Lingam, appeared to quell the world-ending battle.
"Do not worry, beautiful Manlina."
Fane stepped slowly toward the barrier again. His gaze burned at the red-and-blue swastika, but the barrier was like cold water, dampening his fervor.
"What could be inside this barrier, Exalted Fane?"
Manlina asked, puzzled.
The Fire Lingam-marked barrier blocked her divine awareness, preventing her from sensing the swastika inside.
"It is a treasure to help Ximi," Fane sighed. "So close, yet I cannot take it."
He pondered how to break the barrier.
"I will get it! If there's anything I can do to help, I will, even give my life for the great Sovereign Ximi, Exalted Fane!"
Manlina's tone was firm.
She was utterly loyal to Earth Goddess Ximi, viewing her as a mother.
Ximi had gone alone to the Heavenly Court, her safety unknown—Manlina's anxiety was burning.
"Thank you, beautiful Manlina."
Fane's gratitude was sincere, deeply moved by her loyalty.
Yet the barrier seemed impossible to break. The Fire Lingam was the supreme solar force of the Three Realms, and its mark concentrated immense solar energy.
Even Manlina sacrificing herself could not shatter it.
Fane felt almost defeated.
He had never imagined that his own Lingam would pose such a challenge.
Wait… solar energy?
Fane glanced at Manlina, ignoring Indian conventions. He activated his divine power, and his clothes dissolved into nothingness.
His guess was correct.
The Fire Lingam mark on the barrier reacted, glowing brighter and gradually solidifying.
But his guess was not completely right.
He had assumed his Lingam was the key—but exposing it actually added a lock to the red-and-blue swastika.
In other words, the barrier's power could destroy a Primordial Element God.
"Exalted Fane, I feel the barrier's power growing stronger! Its sacred Fire Lingam light makes it hard to even open my eyes."
Manlina said, horrified.
She instinctively bowed her head, just in time seeing Fane without a single garment, and his massive Lingam.
"I understand!"
Suddenly, Fane smiled, turning to Manlina. "I know how to break this barrier! I can go help dear Ximi."
"Really? Exalted Fane?"
Hearing this, Manlina could no longer feel shy, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"What's the method? Do you need my help?"
"Uh…"
Fane paused. The method to break the barrier was somewhat crude, and it would indeed require Manlina's assistance.
At this moment, Fane felt immense gratitude—without her, even finding this sliver of essence would not have been enough.
"Beautiful Manlina, you are kind. Please forgive my boldness. May I ask—is your Yoni's virgin blood still intact