Chapter 214: The Lost Clan?
As the Seraph had said, Jiang Zhe's unparalleled talent allowed him to breeze through the second stage of cultivation almost effortlessly.
The moment he began practicing the Secret Art of Absorption, the torment was unimaginable. His very soul felt as if it were about to shatter and dissolve into nothingness, squeezed and wrung until streams of black mist seeped from his body.
Would he give up?
No!
Within Jiang Zhe's clear consciousness, this pain was nothing—barely a scratch compared to what he had already endured.
Back then, when the Bloodblade recognized him as its master, the agony was far worse than this.
To wear the crown, one must bear its weight.
If he wished to wield the Bloodblade and unleash a strike that could wound both body and spirit, he had to first withstand its suffering himself.
Clenching his will, Jiang Zhe bore the soul-rending pain and pressed forward steadily in cultivation.
Gradually, countless coils of black mist twined around him. Each strand represented a fragment of mortal desire—rooted in corruption and sin—while seven particularly thick streams embodied the Seven Deadly Sins.
Time passed.
Through all the years of the second stage, Jiang Zhe never once felt that his soul would collapse. Instead, amidst the relentless "squeezing," he discovered something astonishing: within the torment, a new force was sprouting, like fresh greenery budding in early spring.
That subtle transformation was one of the reasons he could persevere.
Though his soul was pushed to its very limits, the birth of that strange new power soothed him, like a stream of cool spring water washing away the pain.
…
In the blink of an eye, more than sixty years had passed.
Year 7063 of the Hanxia Calendar.
Streams of black mist representing endless desires surged into Jiang Zhe's body, fueling that nascent force until it roared like a waterfall crashing down a mountainside.
Finally—after nearly three hundred years of cultivation—he had succeeded.
"Huuh…"
Jiang Zhe opened his eyes, which now shone with an extraordinary brilliance. He exhaled a long breath of turbid air, a smile playing across his lips.
The heavy stone in his heart was at last lifted.
No longer was his will only a "false" power. He could truly wield it now—this, to him, was even more enticing than the Chapter of Sin.
Elsewhere, in another space, Demon Jiang Zhe also awoke. He turned to the Seraph standing quietly by his side.
"Mission accomplished. I've succeeded."
The Seraph's expression was calm, almost mechanical, as she replied, "Congratulations. You are now qualified to inherit the supreme art created by my master."
Her tone paused, then softened with complexity. "But I hope you do more than inherit it. Your talent even startles me. I hope you will fulfill my master's vision—to reach the realm he yearned for his entire life, but never attained."
Back in the Abyss of Purgatory, they had spoken of this before. Demon Jiang Zhe naturally understood which realm she meant.
The Chapter of Sin was a soul-based secret art. The realm it described… was like the ultimate limit of the Soul Dao.
Difficult! Almost impossible!
Demon Jiang Zhe dared not make empty promises. He simply said solemnly, "I can only say—I'll do my best."
The Seraph sighed softly. "…Then I shall return to the secret art itself."
Jiang Zhe couldn't help but ask, "Who was your master?"
"You need not remember his name. It is enough that this secret art remains untarnished. One day, if you find someone whose soul talent is suitable, you may pass it on. That will be repayment enough to my master."
"My master may be dead, but his Dao will live forever."
With a sound like shattering glass, the Seraph dissolved into countless crimson motes of light, flowing into Jiang Zhe's consciousness. A torrent of information was instantly transmitted to his true body, his second soul, and his Candlelight Avatar.
Inside the space of the Primal Umbrella, Jiang Zhe and his two avatars sat unmoving for a long while, until at last, they opened their eyes.
"How fascinating. A soul-and-mind secret art, designed to let transformation of the soul affect the flesh. Its core principle is to ignite the power of will. As long as one's spirit is strong enough, infinite miracles can be created!"
"The simplest example—when the mind influences the body… Anger!"
With a low growl, Jiang Zhe's usually calm face twisted with fury.
In mere seconds, his anger almost took form, radiating a terrifying aura. To others, he seemed like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
And indeed—this eruption was not only emotion, but power.
As his rage surged, his strength multiplied. The power of the world itself seemed to burn—explosive, violent, and far more efficient.
A single strike now carried ten times the force.
Normally, his true body already wielded ten thousand times the power of a World Lord. In his enraged state, that power could surge tenfold again, reaching one hundred thousand times that of a World Lord.
This was "mind influencing body."
Pride, greed, sloth, envy… each sin could evoke its own reaction, whether affecting himself or projecting outward onto others.
As his fury ebbed, the tidal wave of power receded.
Sitting cross-legged on the surface of a planet formed from a precious orb, Jiang Zhe stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"This new soul-born talent is interesting… To think the power of the world can burn like divine power. Once I break through to immortality, won't this be a 'Divine Power Burning Secret Art'? Similar to the Annihilation technique from the Duan Donghe inheritance."
Yes—this was not a technique Jiang Zhe had cultivated. It was an innate talent born naturally with the emergence of that strange new force within his soul.
For now, he had only received the legacy of the Chapter of Sin. The true cultivation of it was still a long way off.
A King God's legacy was never so simple to master.
[The chapter continues with Jiang Zhe unraveling the mysteries of the Chapter of Sin, his interactions with the reborn Seraph, and the revelations about the legacy's endless cycle of inheritance… before shifting to the Silver-Clad Jiang Zhe in the Silent Wind Belt, who makes a shocking discovery.]
At last, in year 7048 of the Hanxia Calendar, Silver-Clad Jiang Zhe halted his ship, eyes wide as the detector blared its report.
"Unknown lifeform? Energy level… at the Cosmic Venerable stage? A living being?!"
"How can that be?"
"The depths of the Silent Wind Belt are supposed to be a forbidden zone for life! Could it be… the Beast God Clan was never wiped out? Are they still lurking?"
"Quick! Follow it!"
"I must see with my own eyes what you truly are!"
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