However, right before she died, a black beam of light shot down from the skies onto her body. Her severely wounded body started to heal beneath this light rapidly.
Shadow energy gathered around Karin’s injuries, causing them to heal quickly.
Even more shadow energy surged into Karin’s body, turning into blood in an energy form. This unusual energy blood started to flow through her body. Karin’s lifeforce began to increase at a visible rate.
In just three minutes, the heavily wounded Third Grade Dark Witch was fully recovered and revitalized.
“This is my home. You have no say on what is to happen!” Greem remained in the air, an expression of apathy on his face. “If you are still feeling disobedient……”
Greem snapped his fingers, and Shadow Demon’s claws pierced through Karin’s body again, this time twisting around and ravaging the organs thoroughly.
The injury this time was far more severe.
Karin howled in agony. Bits of her intestines and stomach spewed forth from the cavity in her body along with her blood, causing a terrifying crimson fountain to appear.
Greem smiled coldly as he sensed Karin’s quickly fading lifeforce.
When she was on the verge of death, he waved his hand again, and a beam of light shone down from the black sun onto Karin’s broken body.
The overwhelming shadow energy surged, and Karin once again climbed up from the ground after a brief moment.
Her tan skin beneath her torn armor was smooth and flawless, with no scars and no signs of an injury.
Chapter 1160 - Adepts Are Not Humans
“Bastard, you’re going down!”
Karin suddenly struck out after recovering this time.
Her lithe and agile figure flickered and appeared behind Greem. Two lightless daggers had appeared in her hands, which she thrust furiously at Greem’s spine.
Unfortunately, the blades had barely reached within three meters of Greem when they crashed into a layer of invisible flames. Her defensive forcefield was nothing before these flames and was burned to nothing in the blink of an eye.
Wen the flames spread to Karin’s body, she lifted her head and let out a cry of agony.
It hurt…it hurt so much…so incredibly painful.
It was almost as if all her magic resistance had vanished without a trace. In that instant, the golden fires burned her soul itself, even as they ravaged her body. The intense pain that shot from the depths of her soul was what thoroughly crushed Karin’s spirit!
She kneeled before Green in agony, her entire body engulfed by the strange golden fires. The flames crackled as they burned and tortured her.
Greem finally lifted his hand, and a beam of shadow from above finally extinguished the golden fires. Shadow energy surged into Karin’s body once again.
After recovering once more, Karin escaped from Greem’s side without any hesitation.
The golden fires crackling around Greem disappeared from sight when Karin left, becoming hidden once again.
A Fourth Grade fire adept. It was the true might of a Fourth Grade fire adept!
It was only now that Karin had fully experienced the power of this legendary Fourth Grade fire adept.
Even if he was badly injured, even if he didn’t lift a single finger, all he needed was his translucent forcefield of flames to defeat her. Her! A powerful Third Grade Dark Witch! The gulf in power between Third and Fourth Grade was so vast that Karin couldn’t help but feel dejected at the very thought of it!
“That’s your enemy,” Greem turned around and smiled coldly, “Don’t get the wrong target again! It’s okay if you don’t want to fight Shadow Demon. You will just have to endure half a year of torture from it instead!
“Dark Witches don’t fear death? Hmph! Then I will let you experience it as many times as you want.”
Having said that, fire flashed around Greem as he disappeared from the space.
The cold and heartless Shadow Demon lifted its head. Its gaze landed frostily on Karin.
The next second, the sharp sound of metal slicing across air could be heard once again.
…………
When he emerged from the small interdimensional space, Greem ran into Alice, who had been waiting outside.
“Aren’t you mean? To think you would be so cruel to such a pretty lady. Aren’t you afraid you will make her go insane after six months?” Alice looked at the two figures chasing each other in the arena through the dark screen. She couldn’t help but shake her head and sigh.
“She’s a witch, not a lady!” Greem corrected Alice. “In all seriousness, adepts beyond Second Grade can no longer be called human.”
“But we can’t forget our origins!”
“I have never forgotten our origins. In fact, I care more about my human origins than most other adepts. However, I can’t keep lying to myself,” Greem stared into Alice’s pretty blue eyes and said in a dejected tone, “Adepts are not humans!”
The Non-Human Theory was the theory that Greem had brought up. It was a mainstream belief that had always been active amongst adepts.
With the increasing growth of the adepts, many high-grade adepts started to reflect on the adept cultivation system’s insufficiencies.
What were the most decisive factors in the strength of a tribe and species?
Bloodline, talent, intelligence, ingenuity.
In truth, all these factors were necessary, and each was just as important as the next one!
However, the humans that the adepts originated from were hardly excellent in these regards. In fact, they were on the verge of being wholly classified as an unqualified species.
Bloodline. The human bloodline. How was it best to put it? If one were being kind, having a human bloodline was akin to having no bloodline at all!
They didn’t have the strong Physique of the orcs, the Agility of the elves, and certainly not the inborn Strength of the giants. Of all the most common species found in the multiverse, it seemed like the humans were one of the few species with no manifested bloodline powers.
Of course, this didn’t come with no perks at all!
The humans had the most balanced, adaptable bloodline, capable of tolerating the introduction of most other foreign bloodlines.
However, this was only how humans would describe themselves. The truth was that the human bloodline was far too weak. Any bloodline merging with another race would cause the human bloodline to be devoured and suppressed.
Consequently, most mixed-race humans would show signs of regressed bloodline in later generations!
The intelligent races of most higher planes had strict laws in place forbidding their species from procreating with lower creatures like the humans, simply to avoid regressing their bloodline powers.
Talent. Just as was with their bloodline, the humans had very ordinary talents.
Even the foolish goblins that were often hunted down by other civilizations were skilled at mechanical engineering. Yet, the humans had nothing at all.
Of course, if you counted obedience, subservience, and ease of breeding as good points, then humans did indeed have many good points!
However, there was only one talent that allowed humans across all the planar worlds to rise to power– their ability to study!
Humans did not have sharp claws like wild beasts or wings for flight, as birds did. Humans became used to studying, always learning from species and creatures stronger than themselves.
The birth of the adepts could be traced to the ancient humans’ relentless studying and examination of the magical patterns found on powerful magical creatures!
When they carved similar patterns onto their bodies and the ground, they found that these patterns contained power, weak as it was. From then on, their progress could not be stopped, and the Adepts were born!
It was the problem of the adept’s origin that caused many powerful individuals among the adepts to start considering the matter of bloodline and talents.
From their p
erspective, abandoning the flawed human species and using the bloodline assimilation techniques researched by the adepts to create a more powerful species that best suited the path of adepts was probably an easier way of pushing the adepts forward and allowing for their continuous prosperity!
Moreover, this was no longer just a thought or an idea.
According to Greem’s understanding, the various adept organizations had already started similar experiments in the lesser planes they ruled.
There were so many adepts in space. Could they all have come from the World of Adepts?
Disregarding everything else, even the Third Grade adepts that had gone to Henvic Plane to hunt Greem were utterly unknown to him. Greem had not heard of their names in the World of Adepts at all.
Blade Princess Katherine, Psionic Benija, Poison Adept Guinevere, and the serpentine adept, Naguta. If these powerful adepts had come from the World of Adepts, Greem should not have failed to find any information on them at all, especially considering his identity and status.
After a long period of investigation, Greem finally realized the truth.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t find any information about them in the World of Adepts; it was that they had never been from the World of Adepts!
If those that walked out of the World of Adepts were pureblood adepts, then these adepts trained with the same cultivation system from the lesser planes would be inferior rag tags.
The World of Adepts was still the homeworld of the adepts, after all. The major adept organizations still held back with certain experiments and respected certain taboos. However, they became reckless and fearless when performing the same operations in their lesser planes.
It wasn’t hard to imagine the personalities of the adepts cultivated in such extreme environments!
If the high-grade adepts of the World of Adepts were all perverted and twisted in their own way, that was only relative to an ordinary human. Meanwhile, these ragtag adepts were not just twisted, but monsters in their own right.
Before reaching Fourth Grade and venturing to space, Greem had thought like most adepts in the World of Adepts. He had thought of himself as a genius amongst adepts, a protagonist of his own story, a man fated to become a great and powerful adept.
However, upon stepping out of the World of Adepts, he was shocked to find that the World of Adepts was not the only world of adepts!
There were hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of lesser planes throughout the galaxy continually pumping the adepts with fresh, new blood. Of these people who could step out of their planar worlds and assemble under the flag of the Great Adepts, who was not a genius in their own right in their own world?
Of course, if there was something that distinguished the World of Adepts from these lesser planes, it would be that since the birth of the world, there had been as many as three Ninth Grade Great Adepts that had emerged from the World of Adepts.
The World of Adepts itself was also a higher plane with complete planar laws and rich resources.
It was perhaps the only reason that the World of Adepts stood out amongst the countless planar worlds out there!
Alice couldn’t help but open her eyes wide in shock when she heard Greem claim that adepts were not humans! She anxiously spoke up, “Greem, do you also think that humans are suited as the origin for adepts?”
Greem smiled. He picked up Alice’s slender hand and rubbed it against his own face.
“Quite the contrary, Alice. I believe the opposite of what the others do. I am confident that humans should be the origin for all adepts! The adepts have already procured more than enough power. There needs to be a harness over this immense force to stop it from going out of control and coming to bite back on the adepts.”
“Why would you think so? Are there adepts that would regret the fact that they had too much power? Are the adepts not supposed to pursue power as their only goal?” Alice couldn’t help but be confused.
“Someone faraway contacted me today. They want to make a deal with me. Can you guess who it is?” Greem couldn’t help but rub his nose and smile bitterly.
Alice knew nothing about this before Greem spoke.
However, the moment Greem mentioned the issue, the vague information guided Alice, allowing shards of information to surge into her soul by her Fate powers. The incomplete image of an unusual creature slowly appeared in her mind.
“A lich…Lich Kanganas contacted you!” Alice couldn’t help but open her mouth wide in shock.
Chapter 1161 - Clan Framework
The lich had invited Greem to an exploration.
According to him, the world he had invited Greem to was a world of ice and frost. There appeared to be an unusually rare frost dragon in there.
However, Lich Kanganas’ target wasn’t the frost dragon, but the frost artifact that the dragon had hidden deep in its den– the Ancient Reliquary of Deep Winter.
It was said that the ancient frost giants forged this reliquary. It contained the terrible frost and chill of the Kingdom of Death and could bestow its owner with the laws of ice and portions of the laws of death.
Solely judging by its attributes, it was extremely compatible with Kanganas’ origin attributes.
That was why it was no wonder that Kanganas was recruiting allies everywhere in an attempt to break into this world to obtain the reliquary. The reason he chose Greem was obviously to borrow his incomparably powerful flames to neutralize the frost dragon’s home field advantage.
However, upon knowing that Greem was injured and required time for rest, Kanganas indicated that he wasn’t in a hurry. He still had to invite other party members for the venture. Thus, they agreed to set out in eighty years.
The injury to Greem’s soul should have been healed by then.
One had to admit that liches had a completely different perception of time compared to most planar creatures. Eighty years, which was precious in the eyes of others, was no more than an afternoon tea for a lich.
“A lich’s invitation can make you have such strong thoughts on the nature of humans?” Alice seemed to be in a state of slight disbelief. “I have also heard of the name Kanganas. He seems like a fairly terrifying individual. However, as long as you can defend against their death magic, liches aren’t exactly the most difficult opponents to deal with!”
“You might not know this, but creatures like liches, evil gods, and demons used to be the representation of extreme power in my mind. I could only look up in awe and terror at these creatures before I advanced to become an adept. Yet, now…I am fighting by their sides as equals or clashing with our wits. I can’t help but feel like all this is a ridiculous dream!” Greem sighed and lamented.
Alice’s long, silk-like hair scattered behind her back. Sympathy and understanding appeared on her gentle face as she slowly walked in front of Greem and wrapped her arms around him.
“It’s not a surprise you would think and feel like that. The speed of your advancement is simply too fast. So fast that even you can’t get used to it! Which of those Fourth Grade adepts out there didn’t manage to obtain their current status and position after three to four hundred years of toiling away? Yet, you have always been fighting, struggling with barely a chance to take a breath.
“The Crimson Clan is just like you. It is too young compared to all other Fourth Grades. So young that it is lacking in so many aspects, so young that it cannot match the status and position that it currently holds! Did you know? Ever since the Crimson Clan became a Fourth Grade organization, how many adepts have stood outside the doors hoping for an audience, how many clans and organizations have wished to join under our flag, and how many major forces have tried to form an alliance?”
Greem shook his head at Alice’s question.
He had been hiding in Fire Throne to heal his wounds all this time while also dealing with the treasures and resources he brought back from the other world. He honestly had not asked a single question about the specifics of the clan’s management and had no id
ea how its development had been proceeding.
In his mind, the Crimson Clan would only continue to grow and prosper as long as he, the Fourth Grade adept of the clan, sat behind it. No one would dare to start any trouble against them!
Alice lifted her head and saw Greem’s lost expression. She couldn’t help but start chuckling.
“Out of fear of your power and position, even your disciples and direct subordinates don’t dare to bother you with such annoying and trivial matters. However, have you ever thought about the Crimson Clan in its current situation? Its foundation is still far too frail! For instance, all those adepts that come to our clan to discuss cooperation and agreements are easily powerful adepts of Second and Third Grade. Meanwhile, your disciple and trusted subordinate are only beginner or intermediate Second Grade. Can you imagine the tremendous amount of mental pressure they have to endure while negotiating with these people, with their inferior power?”
Greem listened closely and started to think in silence.
Much like Greem, the Crimson Clan was somewhat bloated now.
Not in terms of their attitude, but in terms of their power.
The Crimson Clan might have Greem, but the Third Grade members that would serve as the backbone of the clan had yet to be cultivated despite all this time. At the moment, the only Third Grades of the Crimson Clan were Alice, Mary, Soros, Oliven, and Brain Monster Gazlowe.
As the Fate Witches’ leader, Alice naturally couldn’t remain in the Crimson Clan to manage their affairs. Meanwhile, Mary and Soros were vampires and were busy dealing with Seawoods Plane and expanding the Crimson Clan’s territory.
Oliven was a dragon devourer and was, at best, a Third Grade houseguest of the clan. She wasn’t willing to participate too deeply in the clan’s internal affairs. Meanwhile, Brain Monster Gazlowe had been sent to Camp Exodar to establish a base in space.
With all these assignments, there was not a single Third Grade left in the clan that could serve as its spine.
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