Chapter 553 - 29: The True Soul of Inherent Nature

[Beast Realm - The True Soul of Those Who Wish for Change]

[A True Soul born from the unwillingness and desire to resist, buried deep in the heart, even when all means of rebellion have been stripped away.]

[An inherent nature possessed by all intelligent life.]

[Created from the Evil Souls of the Divine Bird Ghost Car, Divine Dragon Yunli, Divine Turtle Divination, and Divine Toad Uniting with Heaven, along with the Wish Souls of all the oppressed—a Fusion Soul with a Wish Soul at its core, melded with numerous Evil Souls.]

[Fuse with the heart to obtain the Fire of Sin Divine Technique and comprehensively enhance the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord Divine Techniques.]

[Any being who seeks to build an eternal Order is destined to face an unsolvable problem: the endless greed and insatiability inherent to intelligent life. In other words, dissatisfaction with what one has, and rebellion against the present.]

[Civilization can sate this greedy desire with ever-increasing wealth and power, with endless welfare and resources. Or, it can strip intelligent beings of everything, filling their husks with poverty and labor so that they may never have a single extraneous thought.]

[Just as life would still walk out of Eden even if it lived in Heaven, so too would life still yearn for the sun even if it lived in Hell.]

[Even if the desire is for just a single ear of wheat to call one’s own, that is still the inherent nature called greed, called dissatisfaction, called rebellion, called unwillingness.]

[This True Soul has not yet fully formed.]

"True Soul..."

Lying on the bed in his room at the camp, Su Zhou repeated the word as he gazed at the soul in his hand—a soul where dimness and brilliance coexisted, where Curses and Desire Power converged.

It was a strange and beautiful object, seeming to contain countless Curses born in Hell, as well as the prayers of those in Hell who yearned for the light.

At its core was a tiny ear of wheat. With a single thought, Su Zhou could either merge the soul into the wheat or pluck it out—and the act of plucking it out would halt the formation of the True Soul.

’It seems the object that the little girl from the Beast God Realm used to form a contract with me has become the core for the gathering of Desire Power and Curses. This ordinary ear of wheat has now been steeped in pure Extraordinary Power, turning it into some kind of strange object.’

Holding this True Soul in his hand, Su Zhou placed his left arm behind his head and muttered to himself, "It’s not in its complete form yet... Of course it isn’t. Just how many beings in this Beast God Realm intend to resist the rule of the Divine Beasts? And how many of their wishes have I actually fulfilled?"

"But even so, fusing with this incomplete True Soul can grant me the Fire of Sin Divine Technique."

A True Soul was this new type of soul Su Zhou had obtained by fusing Evil Souls and Wish Souls.

Ever since he had advanced to the Commander Tier and obtained Wish Power Divine Techniques, Su Zhou had known full well that both Curses and Desire Power came from the hearts of people. And since the human heart was so fickle, it was only natural that Curses and Desire Power, being two sides of the same coin, could be fused.

However, everything required a medium. This time, the prayers of the Beast God Realm’s Spirit Beasts to Su Zhou had overlapped with the Curses and resentment of the Spirit Beasts who had been devoured. The desire to change and the desire to curse the creators of this world—its rulers—had resonated with each other. That was why the Evil Souls of the Divine Beasts and the Desire Power had begun to merge, coalescing into this High Tier True Soul.

Of course, there were indeed some Spirit Beasts who felt no resentment even as they were being eaten. But the vast majority had felt regret during the process. This too was a natural instinct, just like how many people who jump off a building regret it halfway down, but by then, it’s already too late.

"The Fire of Sin, and an Enhancement to the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord’s Divine Techniques... A direct Enhancement to my techniques and a whole new one to boot. This is in no way inferior to a typical Divine Object."

Su Zhou was naturally well aware of the information contained within the True Soul, which was why he couldn’t help but ponder, ’The Karmic Fire Divine Technique does match my essence as the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord. But what does it mean by ’fuse with the heart’?’

The Evil-Devouring Demon Lord Divine Technique actually came with its own Demon Fire, the Evil-Devouring Demon Fire that Su Zhou often used.

It was, in essence, a manifestation of Su Zhou’s own Fire Spiritual Power—a violet-blue, temperatureless Flame. While it couldn’t physically ignite anything, it could destroy an object’s internal structure through excessive Enhancement, ultimately reducing it to dust as if it had been burned to ashes.

As it was a derivative of the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord’s ability, it was a Flame that could judge good and evil. For those Su Zhou deemed good, or for tools he wished to use, the Demon Fire would only provide a simple Enhancement. But for those he deemed Evil People, or for trash that needed to be incinerated, the target would be pulverized by the overwhelming Spiritual Power from the excessive Enhancement.

When Su Zhou used it, it was usually on himself. For example, he had used this power when fighting the numerous Divine Beasts and smashing the head of Divine Dragon Yunli. Speaking of which, he felt a bit wistful. He had only learned the name of that aquamarine, dragon-shaped Divine Beast was Yunli by searching through its Evil Soul’s information.

’I only ever seem to learn my enemies’ names after I’ve already killed them. It was the same with the Water God. I only found out his name was Tamburasa after I killed him.’

As this thought crossed his mind, Su Zhou’s focus drifted. He squinted, a hint of hesitation in his eyes. ’Maybe before the next fight, I should lead with an opening line? "State your name! My blade does not strike the nameless." That would save me from this kind of awkwardness.’

This distraction lasted only a moment before Su Zhou’s thoughts returned to the True Soul.

The Fire of Sin, as its name implied, was a type of Karmic Fire specialized against sin.

[—When a sinful thought arises, the Karmic Fire blazes. It is not another who burns you, but you who burn yourself.]

Vaguely, Su Zhou’s instincts told him that the so-called Fire of Sin was a Karmic Fire that was the perfect counter to all Evil Ones.

As long as an Evil One also believed that what they did was evil, then even a moment’s regret, a moment’s wavering, a moment’s self-doubt, would be enough for the Fire of Sin to ignite. It would burn them from the Curses coalesced in the deepest part of their Soul, inflicting true, irreducible damage to their very essence.

Unfortunately, the Fire of Sin wasn’t a one-hit kill. As long as an Evil One’s Soul was tenacious enough and they remained utterly unrepentant—knowing they were evil and that their actions were evil, yet refusing to change—then even if burned by the Karmic Fire, they would only suffer extreme spiritual agony, but they would not die.

Of course, that wasn’t particularly important, as this pain originating from the essence of one’s Soul would definitely affect their combat capabilities.

Even for the unrepentant Evil People and Monsters that not even Karmic Fire could burn to death, Su Zhou would just use his fists and blade to smash and cut them to pieces.

Monsters die when they are killed.

Su Zhou had a general understanding of the Fire of Sin’s power, but he was still unclear about the specific effects of the Enhancement to his Evil-Devouring Demon Lord Divine Technique. But for that very reason, he greatly looked forward to the moment the True Soul fully formed.

"The vast majority of this True Soul’s power comes from the Desire Power of the countless Spirit Beasts’ prayers in the Beast God Realm."

Su Zhou knew very well that the seven hundred or so Spirit Beasts he had rescued were but a drop in the ocean compared to the total population of billions in the Beast God Realm. The Desire Power they contained was like the difference between a single drop of water and the entire sea.

For the ’True Soul of Those Who Wish for Change’ to fully form, he would have to at least bring a foundational, different kind of Order to the Beast God Realm. This wouldn’t take too long. Based on the results of the joint high-level talks between the various nations during the previous meeting, the plan for the Beast God Realm from Earth’s side would be fully launched and implemented in a few days, after the celebratory banquet.

Su Zhou waited.

And while Su Zhou returned to his room in the camp to rest and explore the power of the True Soul,

the major powers on Earth’s side had not stopped moving.

This mission to explore the Tree of Life in the Beast God Realm was not only a complete success, but thanks to Su Zhou’s actions, four of the Beast God Realm’s most powerful Kings of Divine Beasts were killed after the mission ended. This completely destroyed any possibility of the Beast God Realm preventing Earth’s entry in the first wave.

Whether it was the news of the Tree of Life’s death or the fact that the Beast God Realm’s civilization had descended into chaos and confusion, it was all excellent news for Earth. It meant humanity no longer had to worry about the threat of a ’Celestial Venerable’.

And the Beast God Realm’s numerous mature Mimic Dao Technologies and Genetic Technologies were a huge treasure trove, waiting to be explored.

While chaos erupted in the territories of the four races of the Beast God Realm—all except for the Mao Race—and many Divine Beasts had no appetite for their delicacies, instead frantically trying to find out what kind of Monster had killed their Beast Kings,

the Mimic Dao Cultivators from Zhengguo’s Flying Birds, represented by Jin Qiong, had already openly declared their presence. Claiming the title of Golden Roc Venerable Lord, they began to subjugate the main city of the Feather Race, which had been left unguarded after the death of the Divine Bird Ghost Car, in the name of a Divine Beast.

The subjugation process was so smooth it was almost ridiculous. Because the local Spirit Beasts were extremely cooperative, it took Jin Qiong a mere fifteen minutes to occupy the Feather Race’s main city—a city that once belonged to the Divine Bird Peacock, was temporarily held by the Divine Bird Ghost Car, and now nominally belonged to her.

And those fifteen minutes were the time it took for all the local Production Species and Combat Species to gather, with the leaders of each team lining up to perform rites of allegiance to Jin Qiong. The main delay was the overly complex etiquette of the Combat Species; otherwise, it would have taken even less time.

’These Spirit Beasts are so reverent it’s almost disgusting...’

Even though Jin Qiong had long known about the Divine Beasts’ brainwashing capabilities, she still felt a deep sense of unease as she personally experienced the worship of the Spirit Beasts, their eyes filled with adoration.

When had the Golden-winged Bird—who was used to being an Angel idol online and getting dragged into training by Su Zhou in real life—ever encountered a scene like this?

Faced with the numerous Spirit Beasts who were so impossibly respectful they were on the verge of, or had already begun, prostrating themselves to kiss her claws, her feathers practically bristled with discomfort. But she was the only one who could do this job. After all, as a genuine, original Divine Beast, Jin Qiong’s intimidating presence was far greater than that of an ordinary Mimic Dao Cultivator.

And the Feather Race’s main city and territory were a crucial entry point for Earth’s intervention in the Beast God Realm. It was now a top priority concerning the future of two worlds, and its progress could not be slowed down because of her personal feelings.

To this, Su Zhou, who was standing by to support her, shrugged. "The very reason you hate this is why you have to be the one to change it, isn’t it?"

"You’re not wrong..." the Divine Bird, who had been pushed into a position she wasn’t ready for, muttered under her breath. "If I had known this was the life the Peacock promised me as a Divine Beast, I would’ve refused a long time ago. I never would have been so hesitant back then."

And as the development of the Beast God Realm gradually got on track,

news about this brand-new Otherworld was also being gradually released to the public on the internet by the powers of various nations.