The Seed Urn was the first sacred treasure that allowed the Kakin Empire to rise above the rest during the Age of Contention.
Every member of the royal bloodline who accepted the gift of the Seed Urn would have an exclusive Guardian Spirit Beast born within them.
This spirit beast was, in essence, a Nen Beast.
However, it would automatically create a Nen ability most compatible with its host, based on factors like the host's personality, hobbies, interests, and experiences.
In the process of training one's Nen, creating an ability that is perfectly compatible with oneself is often the greatest challenge a Nen user faces. The mechanism of the Seed Urn happened to solve this problem perfectly.
Morrow was surprised by the Nen Beast's autonomous appearance, and this was the only possibility he could think of.
The Seed Urn itself was most likely not an offensive type of Post-Mortem Nen construct.
Therefore, after he absorbed it with Tree Rings, its strong sense of autonomy caused it to automatically generate a Guardian Spirit for him in the form of ability material.
While Morrow could reason his way to this conclusion, Nasubi Hui Guo Rou was utterly clueless. Faced with a sight that overturned his entire understanding of the world, he was naturally left stunned and speechless.
Azure, dark red, and jet-black.
Auras of three colors surged and intertwined like flames, rapidly sketching the outline and features of a wolf-headed Guardian Spirit Beast.
This wolf Nen Beast was jet-black all over. Its head was covered by a triangular bone mask, and dark red, arrow-shaped patterns extended from both sides of its long, narrow snout. Within the eye sockets of the bone mask, azure flames danced, those seemed to be its eyes.
Its body was powerful and sleek, possessing the graceful lines of a cheetah.
Dark red markings resembling blood grooves ran down its forelimbs to their ends, punctuated by three dark red rings.
The edges of its limbs were overgrown with orderly rows of sharp blades of varying lengths, exuding a chilling aura.
Below its waist, however, it had no physical form. In its place were phantom-like azure flames, allowing it to float lightly in mid-air.
Once the Nen wolf was fully formed, it hovered silently by Morrow's side like a quiet guard.
Morrow tilted his head slightly to look at it.
It, too, raised its bone-masked wolf head, the flames in its eye sockets flickering enigmatically.
Just then, Morrow noticed an azure stellar cross embedded in the center of the Nen wolf's forehead.
Its shape and details were identical to the starlight mark that appeared when Insidious Shooting Star was launched.
But even without this obvious feature taken from his Nen System, this Nen wolf was formed from the aura output he had stripped away. It was, without a doubt, his Nen Beast.
But this "autonomy" was truly too bizarre.
As the master of the Nen Beast, he knew nothing about its appearance or the nature of its ability.
However, a moment later, he thought of the princes participating in the Succession Contest, who couldn't even see their own Guardian Spirit Beasts. He could only sigh to himself that this was very "Seed Urn."
Although it's a bit baffling, your appearance... Morrow extended his index finger.
Seeing this, the Nen wolf took the initiative to draw closer, lowering its head to let Morrow's finger touch the protruding stellar cross mark on its forehead.
...is perhaps good news.
Morrow's expression was calm.
Before absorbing the Lotus Anchorite and the Seed Urn, he had already mentally prepared himself to face the "negative effects."
With the precedent of the Sword of Good Omens, he knew this would be no easy task.
In any case, the final result would be him using his own mental strength to suppress these negative effects into the black water in the depths of his consciousness. Although this did pose a certain hidden danger, as long as his mental strength did not weaken, he would generally not be affected.
And this wolf-like Guardian Spirit Beast that had suddenly appeared might mean that the Seed Urn would not bring him any negative effects.
In other words, he might only have to face some Post-Mortem Nen information or memory fragments from the Lotus Anchorite.
It was even more likely that, like last time, he would have to face the countless vengeful souls of the sacrifices.
In any case... first, let's get rid of the nuisance in the room.
To avoid any sudden trouble later.
Despite receiving a blessing of good luck from the Entropy Bird, Morrow still maintained his style of preferring less trouble over more.
He stopped thinking, removed his finger from the Guardian Spirit Beast's forehead, and pointed it at the dazed Nasubi Hui Guo Rou.
This gesture seemed to pull Nasubi Hui Guo Rou back from his trance. The dazed shock on his corpulent face gradually faded.
"You..."
Nasubi Hui Guo Rou's eyes widened, staring fixedly at Morrow, but the words died in his throat as soon as he spoke.
The reason was simple.
Morrow had no desire to speak with him, nor was he bothered to listen to him ramble.
With just a flick of his finger, the intent of the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva was released with his Nen, and a remote Nen wave directly shattered Nasubi Hui Guo Rou's head.
With a thud, the fat corpse fell backward, crashing heavily onto the ground.
This king, who regarded human life as worthless, died on this very altar where he had plotted against the lives of two hundred thousand passengers, filled with confusion, unwillingness, and resentment.
Morrow looked at Nasubi Hui Guo Rou's headless corpse, thinking that if the man's Guardian Spirit Beast were still around, it might have left behind some Post-Mortem Will.
At this thought, he shook his head slightly.
He wasn't lacking in Post-Mortem Will now. Even if Nasubi Hui Guo Rou could leave some behind, it probably wouldn't convert into much experience.
Just as he was thinking this, the negative effects from absorbing the Lotus Anchorite suddenly struck.
It was the same excruciating pain of a massive amount of information flooding his brain.
Morrow, long accustomed to it, endured it without a change in expression.
The next instant, he arrived in the depths of his consciousness, standing on the black water. White ripples spread out from under his feet into the distance.
Directly in front of him, countless jet-black vengeful souls were piled up like a mountain, exuding a twisted and ominous aura.
The scene was similar to when he had absorbed the Sword of Good Omens, the only difference being that Netero was not present this time.
Morrow looked expressionlessly at the dense mass of sacrificial souls and asked, "I've already killed Nasubi Hui Guo Rou. Is that still not enough?"
The response was the sight of countless vengeful souls lunging at him.
"Don't push your luck."
With a mere thought, Morrow suppressed the overwhelming tide of vengeful souls into the depths of the black water.
As they sank to the bottom, the black water became noticeably darker.
Morrow didn't care, quietly enduring the excruciating pain from the influx of information.
He had originally thought that killing Nasubi Hui Guo Rou, even if it couldn't completely quell the obsession of these vengeful souls, would at least weaken their intensity.
But now it seemed he had oversimplified things.
Merely killing the current king was far from satisfying them.
What they wanted was the destruction of Kakin.
Morrow realized this, but he had no intention of indulging them.
As the intense pain gradually subsided, Morrow's consciousness returned to the real world.
Bang, bang, bang...!
Gunshots echoed in his ears.
Judging from the sound, they were clearly large-caliber pistols.
Morrow opened his eyes, and what greeted him was a team of men in black suits, firing their pistols at him.
However, all the incoming bullets were being blocked by his Guardian Spirit Beast.
Morrow's gaze shifted, looking behind the team in black suits.
There, the fourth prince of Kakin, Tserriednich, stood with one hand on his chin, a hint of ruthlessness in his expression.
The nearby corpse of Nasubi Hui Guo Rou didn't seem to affect his emotions in the slightest.
"Are you all just going to keep shooting those useless guns at this slow pace?"
Tserriednich noticed Morrow opening his eyes and spoke in a cold tone laced with arrogant mockery.
Hearing this, the Personal Guards immediately holstered their guns and quickly moved to surround Morrow in a semi-circular formation.
Tserriednich raised his chin slightly, looking at Morrow before the altar, past the defensive line formed by his Personal Guards.
He was very confident.
This confidence had led him to rush over with his Personal Guards as soon as he heard the commotion.
Even after seeing his father's headless body, his confidence was not affected in the least.
This almost arrogant confidence stemmed partly from his inherently conceited and haughty nature.
On the other hand, it came from his Specialization ability, "Ephemeral Ten Seconds."
As long as he entered a state of Zetsu, he could peer into the future ten seconds later from a third-person perspective.
During this period of precognition, he couldn't move, and real-world time would also freeze.
When the precognition ended and he returned to reality, the world would unfold according to the ten seconds he had seen.
At that point, however, he could use his own will and actions to interfere with, or even change, everything that was about to happen within those ten seconds.
In other words, the worldline ten seconds later would change...
And in theory, as long as he kept activating his ability, he was invincible.
Zetsu.
Tserriednich was in a state of precognition.
In fact, he had activated his ability the moment he stepped into the room.
From a third-person perspective, he watched everything unfold before him.
In the vision, his Personal Guards were shooting at Morrow, then abandoned their guns to surround him after his taunt.
This was the scene that occurred at the eighth second.
At the ninth second, the Personal Guards' formation was set.
Then, at the tenth second... Tserriednich saw a suffocating scene.
Everyone, including himself, was crushed into meat patties in an instant.
Literal meat patties.
He didn't even see how it happened. Only after seeing everyone turned into meat patties did he suddenly realize that Morrow had made a move. Moreover, the attack's range was precisely controlled within their standing area, without the slightest deviation.
Hey, hey, are you serious?!
Tserriednich's face was filled with shock.
As the tenth second ended, Tserriednich's pupils contracted sharply, and he returned to reality.
How did this guy do that?
The first thing Tserriednich did upon returning to reality was to hastily leave his original position.
This action of his, however, did not affect the unfolding of the "ten seconds in the real world."
In the eyes of the others in the room, Tserriednich himself was still standing in his original spot.
Within the normally flowing ten seconds, the Personal Guards in the room fired their guns, then abandoned them to surround Morrow at Tserriednich's taunt.
Finally, the attack with no visible trajectory occurred on schedule at the tenth second.
All the Personal Guards, as well as Tserriednich, were flattened into meat patties in an instant, just as the precognition had shown.
These ten seconds in reality came to an end.
Time continued to flow forward.
But Tserriednich, who had moved and exited the room, had already changed the worldline in advance.
He did not die.
So when time moved forward normally, the Tserriednich who was supposed to have been flattened into a meat patty had the fact of his "death" rewritten due to the predetermined change in the "worldline."
Because of this, the patty-shaped corpse of Tserriednich in Morrow's eyes vanished into thin air, without leaving even a trace of blood.
After changing the ten-second worldline once, Tserriednich immediately activated his "Ephemeral Ten Seconds" ability again.
He once again entered a third-person perspective, watching "himself" flee the room and sprint back the way he came. Then, at the fourth second, he encountered the first prince, Benjamin, who was leading his troops.
"He" didn't tell Benjamin about the situation in the room, even maliciously hoping that the man would die at the hands of that monster. So, the third-person Tserriednich watched "himself" run past Benjamin's army.
This was at the seventh second.
And on the path he had just taken, that unreasonable monster who had killed all his Personal Guards in an instant had also followed.
He was standing at the other end of the corridor.
The third-person Tserriednich saw the monster.
But at this moment, he was no longer as afraid. Instead, he sneered inwardly.
As long as he kept changing the progress of "every ten seconds," he could continuously evade death.
And Benjamin, that muscle-brained idiot, would probably be turned into a meat patty after running head-on into that monster.
Just as the third-person Tserriednich was imagining the scene of Benjamin becoming a meat patty, he suddenly felt a gaze upon him.
Hm?!
Tserriednich's heart trembled, and he whipped his head toward the source of the gaze.
He then saw that the monster was actually... staring at me?
Tserriednich felt a chill instantly spread throughout his body.
Impossible!
I'm currently in the 'precognitive dream' stage, and the ten seconds aren't over yet. The me at this moment doesn't even exist...
There's no way he could see me!
Tserriednich was in disbelief.
—--
Real world.
Benjamin let Tserriednich leave, merely commenting with a cold sneer, "Vermin."
Immediately after, he saw Morrow, the one who had attacked the Black Whale, standing at the opposite end of the corridor.
"Kill him."
Benjamin directly skipped the "capture alive" option and gave his subordinates the order to attack.
But just as his voice fell, he saw Morrow make a slightly strange move, suddenly looking up at the corridor ceiling for some reason.
Looking for a surveillance camera?
Benjamin's eyes were icy.
Just as he had this thought, he saw Morrow abruptly vanish into thin air.
Huh!?
Benjamin and his Personal Guards were all startled.
—--
On the other side.
Morrow suddenly appeared in front of Tserriednich.
"10.01s"
Along with him came a dense, firework-like barrage of Nen waves that erupted in this space, filling every corner of his vision.
Caught completely off guard, Tserriednich was instantly pierced by countless fine Nen waves, like a sieve.
"You... how on earth did you do that?!"
One of Tserriednich's eyes was already a bloody mess as he stared at Morrow in disbelief.
Morrow looked at the dying Tserriednich and said calmly, "I was just a little faster... than the 'change in the worldline.'"
Tserriednich collapsed weakly to the ground, his strength rapidly draining away.
He knows my ability?!
How could he know?!
And why could he see me during the 'precognitive dream' stage?!
Could it be that his ability is also related to 'time'?!
With endless confusion and unwillingness, Tserriednich breathed his last.
(Translated by yourtl.app)