“My Essence Soul avatar is rushing to King Calm Sea’s city. I want to see if there’s another King Calm Sea there,” said Li Guan.
“Where’s the Origins treasure, Scarlet Cloud Heaven? What about his token?” Luo Tang asked. “We can confirm their location.”
“It’s still in the city that he’s supposed to be guarding. It hasn’t moved,” said Li Guan coldly. “I’ve already summoned him to Archean Mountain. However, his identity token and Scarlet Cloud Heaven remain in place.”
Qin Wu and Luo Tang’s expressions changed slightly.
If he didn’t come under orders, then the person in front of them was probably King Calm Sea.
Everything became clearer. “This murderer’s gaze isn’t right. He doesn’t look like King Calm Sea.” Li Guan looked at the ugly man and suddenly used an Essence Soul mystic technique to target the ugly man. “Ahhh!” The ugly man clutched his head in pain as he wailed for a long time. His Essence Soul was greatly agitated, and he finally regained consciousness.
His body trembled as he slowly raised his head. Although he was still in pain, he endured it and looked around.
Meng Chuan, Li Guan, Qin Wu, and Luo Tang were alarmed.
At that moment, they found the ugly man’s eyes very familiar. This cold, proud gaze belonged to King Calm Sea.
Chi! Chi! Chi!
His bones, muscles, and facial expressions changed. Although his Quintessential Essence had been sealed, as a Regis Godfiend, he still had very refined control over his body. Soon, the blood-red figure transformed into King Calm Sea’s true appearance. “Supremacies, Master.” King Calm Sea stood up and bowed respectfully despite the pain.
Qin Wu looked at him with mixed emotions. “It’s really you.”
“That mysterious murderer?” King Calm Sea frowned slightly. “It’s me?”
Li Guan, Qin Wu, Meng Chuan, and Luo Tang looked at him.
“I guessed it too.” King Calm Sea nodded calmly. “Previously, I lost consciousness twice during my late-night cultivation. Even when I woke up later, I lacked memories of that period. As for those two times… they matched the time when the mysterious murderer attacked the cities.”
Qin Wu couldn’t help but angrily say, “Then why didn’t you report it?”
“I lost my memories twice, and two cities – which were thousands of kilometers away, were attacked. Would it definitely be me?” King Calm Sea said calmly. “If I were to report it, what should I say? That I once colluded with the demons and have connections with the demons?”
Qin Wu looked at his disciple painfully.
King Calm Sea was once the disciple he was most proud of. He had placed his hopes on King Calm Sea becoming Archean Mountain’s next Supremacy. It was unexpected that he would collude with the demons.
“Another evil consciousness hides within your Essence Soul,” said Li Guan. “It’s very rare to see such a thing happen. Typically, one’s consciousness will only split apart when one cultivates a forbidden mystic technique, causing them to turn crazy and evil. We humans have long sealed such evil, forbidden mystic techniques.”
“I’ve cultivated the demons’ formulas before,” King Calm Sea pondered and said, “Perhaps it’s related to their formulas.”
King Calm Sea waved his hand. Four manuals appeared in front of him.
“These are all the manuals the demons have given me over the years,” said King Calm Sea calmly. There was no need for him to hide it any further.
Chapter 437 - King Calm Sea’s Memory
Meng Chuan and company watched from the side. Li Guan carefully read through the manuals.
“Three Creation-level techniques. The last one is half an Imperial Lord-level technique.” After Li Guan finished reading, he picked out two books. “This Creation-level technique, the Four Absolutes Sword, is related to the Imperial Lord-level technique-Time Saber. Furthermore, it contains a so-called Meditation Technique. The Four Absolutes Sword has a foundational section on the meditation technique. The Time Saber also has the follow-up of the meditation technique… I suspect that your split consciousness should be related to this meditation technique.”
Li Guan was, after all, at the perfected Grotto-Heaven realm. His eyes were much sharper.
“I didn’t cultivate the second half of the technique,” said King Calm Sea, “because I obtained an even stronger legacy in Star Cluster Building. The demons sent over this half of the Imperial Lord-level technique afterward.”
Li Guan nodded slightly. As he had expected… King Calm Sea wouldn’t have been exposed so early if he had cultivated the subsequent meditation technique within the Imperial Lord-level manual.
Qin Wu looked at King Calm Sea, his heart aching. “Xue Ting, Archean Mountain has long told every Godfiend about the demons’ ill intentions. You can’t believe their promises, ever. The treasures they give might be poison. The ultimate techniques they give might contain huge flaws.” “Yes, that’s been said before, but how many Godfiends in the world believe you?” King Calm Sea said calmly. “Everyone thinks that it’s an empty threat. Furthermore, many Godfiends believe that if the treasures are poison and the ultimate techniques they give are flawed, that would imply they lacked basic credibility. If that happened, how would Godfiends be willing to continue colluding with the demons? The demons will definitely not be so short-sighted.”
“The demons won’t be so short-sighted, but you have a chance of becoming a Creation Supremacy. It’s very likely that the demons will target you.” Qin Wu frowned. “Besides, I don’t understand why you colluded with the demons.”
“Learn their ultimate techniques and make myself stronger.” King Calm Sea looked at the four people in front of him. “Then, I’ll use that strength to slay the demons. Isn’t that good? The demons are very despicable, but we can still learn their ultimate techniques.”
“If a demon’s ultimate technique contains the profundity of laws, one can gain some insights. However, some special mystic techniques can’t be cultivated if one doesn’t understand the fundamentals of the mystic technique,” said Li Guan. “Once one cultivates an unknown mystic technique, one’s path will be unknown. All the demon techniques that we have collected have been inspected by us Supremacies. What we can confirm and understand will be taught to Godfiends.”
King Calm Sea said in puzzlement, “The demons made me go crazy and slaughter humans? Although the deaths of millions of humans are tragic, it doesn’t damage humanity’s foundation in the entire war.”
“That’s because you didn’t continue cultivating the mystic technique. If you continued cultivating it, you wouldn’t have been exposed so early.” Li Guan pointed at the Imperial Lord-level ultimate technique. “I’m guessing that the demons had great plans for you. Considering how you didn’t even know about the birth of the new consciousness within your Essence Soul… it’s very likely that this special technique will eventually allow the new consciousness to devour your main consciousness and completely replace you. Furthermore, the demons should have means of controlling that consciousness.”
“If you become a Creation Supremacy and are absolutely loyal to the demons, you will pose a great threat to us humans,” said Li Guan. King Calm Sea fell silent.
Meng Chuan and company looked at King Calm Sea.
For many years, King Calm Sea had indeed contributed greatly to the human race. All his children had fought for the human race. Who knew that King Calm Sea would collude with the demons?
“You shouldn’t have colluded with the demons. Do you think it’s so easy to gain benefits from the demons?” Qin Wu looked at his disciple.
“I’ve never thought of betraying humanity.” King Calm Sea looked at the person in front of him. “I know that I, Xue Ting, have committed an unpardonable crime and deserve to be executed. However, dying like this only benefits the demons. I hope that my death will be more valuable. Allow me to atone for my sins as much as possible. All these years, in order to collude with the demons, I leaked some intellig
ence and caused some Godfiends to die in battle. I owe too much.”
“We don’t dare believe what you said,” said Li Guan coldly.
“We need you to make a trip to the Heart Sea Palace. We can decide how we should deal with you after that,” said Qin Wu.
King Calm Sea nodded. “Alright.”
…
With the help of the Heart Sea Palace, one could swear an inviolable oath.
The Heart Sea Palace could also be used to verify the words said by powerful Godfiends.
Hum.
King Calm Sea sat cross-legged in Heart Sea Palace as he immersed himself in its illusion control.
Meng Chuan, Qin Wu, Luo Tang, and Li Guan stood by the side. The Guardian—the black-robed elder-appeared beside them. The black-robed elder said, “Now, I’ll project his memories. All of you can take a closer look.”
“Everyone, check his memories carefully. We will decide on how we shall deal with King Calm Sea afterward,” said Li Guan. Meng Chuan, Qin Wu, and Luo Tang nodded.
Scenes and sounds began to appear above Heart Sea Palace. They were all King Calm Sea’s memories.
When King Calm Sea was a child, his hometown had been invaded by demons. His parents died instantly; he—as a child-and countless people fled in panic. A large number of demons chased after him. When the demons left, only about 30 percent of the fleeing humans had survived. As for King Calm Sea, he became a wandering beggar.
An orphaned beggar? Meng Chuan watched this scene.
Many humans had encountered demon invasions in the human world. He had encountered them before too, but his parents had protected him.
King Calm Sea had become an orphaned beggar.
Memories kept appearing in midair.
When King Calm Sea was a child, he suffered plenty of hardship as a young beggar. He experienced the darkest side of humanity.
The weather got colder. In the cold December winter, just as the young beggar was about to freeze to death, he finally became a servant of a large family clan. His life as a servant was rather difficult, but at the very least, he didn’t starve to death. He had only truly come into contact with cultivation in this large family clan…
As a lowly servant, without a good master’s guidance, all he could do was secretly cultivate and be ruthless to himself.
“He doesn’t care about mortals,” said Li Guan softly as he watched. “In his heart, mortals can’t resist the demons at all. They only know how to bully the weak. However, he still thinks highly of Godfiends. Every Godfiend’s death is heart-wrenching for him. He believes that every death is a loss of strength in the war against the demons.”
Meng Chuan, Qin Wu, and Luo Tang nodded slightly. As they watched King Calm Sea’s growth period, all his thoughts and beliefs were revealed.
“He trusts himself the most. He’s focused on dealing with the demons,” said Qin Wu.
“He really hates the demons the most,” said Luo Tang softly. “As children of powerful Godfiends are typically very powerful, he had many wives and concubines to give him a bunch of children. His children suffered much when they were young, but he had guided them secretly. He believes that hardship and setbacks can temper their willpower.”
Meng Chuan frowned.
Yan Jin’s tragic childhood was actually planned by King Calm Sea secretly? He left a sword mark on his son but tortured Yan Jin in various ways. As for Yan Jin’s mother, she was just a tool in King Calm Sea’s eyes. She was a tool for giving birth and tempering Yan Jin. King Calm Sea didn’t care about his other family members. He only cared about his children. He was actually using this method to nurture his children. His children clearly didn’t like this method of nurturing. Even the most outstanding and most monstrous genius, Xue Feng, couldn’t understand his father.
The memories dissipated.
Meng Chuan and company looked at the controlled King Calm Sea, who was sitting cross-legged. “We are done,” said Li Guan. “Everyone, share your thoughts on how we should deal with him.”
Chapter 438 - Life Modification
With a cold expression, Qin Wu said, “This war has lasted for more than 800 years. Every year, more unstable World Entrances appear. Billions of people have suffered because of the demons. Many Godfiends have experienced hardship. Would all of them collude with the demons just as he did? We have strictly forbidden them from colluding with the demons repeatedly. After all, they’re betraying humanity by doing so. However, he still insisted on colluding with them.”
“He has caused the deaths of millions of mortals as well as many Godfiends.” Qin Wu sneered. “He only believes in himself. He doesn’t believe in what the sect says. He doesn’t believe in mortals or ordinary Godfiends. From his point of view, the weak can be sacrificed.
“With such a personality, he has already lost himself. If it’s during normal times, he should be executed,” said Qin Wu coldly. “Even now, we can’t let him escape punishment just because he can atone for his sins.”
“We need to punish him severely.” Luo Tang nodded. “The problem is how we will make him atone for his sins towards the human race. His Essence Soul is now flawed; there’s another consciousness within it.” The guardian chipped in. “Through the Heart Sea Palace, one can wipe out the newly-born evil consciousness. However, due to the flaws that come from cultivating that special Essence Soul mystic technique, another evil consciousness will still be born as time passes. The evil consciousness will then continue to grow stronger.”
Li Guan pondered for a moment and said, “First, kill the evil consciousness within before modifying his life. Wipe out his Essence Soul completely! Without an Essence Soul, the mystic technique will be useless.”
“Life modification?” Meng Chuan finally spoke. “How?”
“We can make him into a puppet like the Guardian Divine Beasts,” explained Li Guan. “Even without an Essence Soul, one can become such a puppet. However, his consciousness and memories will completely merge with the puppet. He can still maintain his current technique realm through this method. The current Guardian Divine Beasts were all left behind by Ancestral Master Archean Eon.”
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“There are many types of life modification. With the resources our Archean Mountain has accumulated, we can do more than ten types of modifications, ” said Qin Wu. “There are only two types of modifications that wipes away an Essence Soul. One modification is the Ice Guard. The other is Streaming Fire Life. Out of the two, Streaming Fire Life has a higher mortality rate during the modification. The Ice Guard has a lower mortality rate.”
Although Meng Chuan had the authority to know about such secrets, he didn’t have time to study it in-depth.
Qin Wu, Li Guan, and company had clearly studied Archean Mountain’s secrets more than he did.
“Let him be an Ice Guard. There’s a 70% chance of success,” said Li Guan. “Streaming Fire Life is too incompatible with us humans. The probability of success is too low.”
“Meng Chuan.” Qin Wu looked at Meng Chuan and explained, “Ice Guards are lifeforms that are fundamentally different from us. They aren’t made of flesh and blood. They are a special ice lifeform produced in the River of Spacetime. They have an ice body. During the modification process, one’s Essence Soul will completely melt, becoming nutrients for their ice body. This makes their ice body extremely powerful! An Ice Guard’s ice body is very powerful, but they will die once it shatters.” “Furthermore, after the modification process, the ice body can no longer be improved. One’s Essence Soul is also gone forever. One can only continue to improve their technique realm. Once one’s lifespan is up, they will naturally die.
“However, Ice Guards are still very powerful modified lifeforms,” said Qin Wu wistfully. “In the River of Spacetime, many people—who have no hope of breaking through-have studied life modification techniques. They hope to increase their lifespan or increase their strength through such means.”
Meng Chuan nodded slightly.
&
nbsp; Life modification techniques were double-edged swords. It severed one’s cultivation path and expended precious resources. Failure during the modification meant death…
However, there were all sorts of benefits. One’s lifespan might increase; their strength might increase, etc.
“Becoming a Dao Protector also changes one’s life essence,” said Luo Tang. “As long as one has a fifth-level Essence Soul, one can possess a Dao Protector’s body. Although one needs to meditate most of the time—they can only be lucid for a period of time—they will gain over 1,000 years in lifespan! A Dao Protector’s body is indestructible. It’s a great opportunity for Regis Godfiends that have reached the end of their lifespans.”
Meng Chuan and company quickly made their decision. “Although he is now loyal to the human race and hates the demons, who knows what will happen in the future? Our punishment might result in him resenting us. Maybe that resentment will develop, causing him to betray humanity even more,” said Li Guan. “Therefore, before we begin the life modification process, he must swear an oath in Heart Sea Palace.”
Meng Chuan, Qin Wu, and Luo Tang nodded.
“After transforming into an Ice Guard, we will banish him to the World Gap. He is forbidden from returning to the human world for 300 years,” said Li Guan. “He will perpetually guard the World Gap and hunt down the demons that enter. He will only be allowed to return when 300 years are up.”
“Alright.”
“Agreed.”
“This can be considered as a way for him to atone his sins.” Qin Wu, Luo Tang, and Meng Chuan agreed to the plan.
If this were a peaceful era, he would have long been executed. However, an expert with the strength of a Creation Supremacy was too precious. It was too wasteful to execute him directly.
After King Calm Sea patrolled the World Gap for 300 years, his remaining lifespan would be very short. Only then would he be allowed to return to the human world to take a look.
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