Chapter 1 The Spirit Controller's Miscalculation

Sorokin's main body, whose mental power from possessing a Saint Apostle warrior had been burned away by the Soul Flame, couldn't care less about being exposed. Recalling the scene he had witnessed before collapsing, disbelief filled his face.

"Dozens of Firstborns, all alive in the modern era… Could they have faked their deaths like I did?!"

Sorokin's mind reeled.

How was that possible?!

Some of them had clearly died for real; their ashes had been scattered!

How did they survive the Exploration Era, hide their identities, and live until now?

Was this place actually a retirement home for Firstborns?

Or had these people been hiding for so long, brewing some earth-shattering conspiracy?!

Sorokin's thoughts were in turmoil, and the more he thought, the more terrifying it became. He had originally thought he was a crocodile lurking beneath the surface, but now he realized that the waters of the explored universe were deeper than he had imagined!

This organization was so secretive that no one had ever heard of it. Could it be that no one else in the universe knew this secret except for him?

Just then, Sorokin suddenly snapped out of it and hurriedly ordered the corps commander, "Immediately scatter the troops, evacuate separately, and run at full speed!"

Sorokin's tone was unusually panicked.

He was confident in his own strength and had originally thought that this trip would be a cakewalk, with a high probability of retrieving the Soul Flame. Even after testing out three Beyond Grade As who intervened recently, he had only become a little more serious and did not think that he would fail.

But he hadn't expected that there were not just three Beyond Grade As here, but more than thirty!

The situation was beyond his expectations; who could withstand this?!

Dozens of Beyond Grade As exceeded his limit, and the possession had triggered the Soul Flame's alarm. It was like stirring up a hornet's nest. Sorokin immediately lost any desire to act and only wished he could escape this area instantly, the farther away the better.

At that moment, the corps commander looked at the remote observation screen and suddenly exclaimed, "Boss, their fleet is moving and flying towards our direction. Also, dozens of high-energy reaction bodies have suddenly appeared on the radar, all suspected to be Beyond Grade As!"

"Then what are you waiting for? Run!"

Sorokin was furious and exasperated.

The details of this organization could be quietly investigated in the future, but if he was caught up now, he might not even have a "future"!

The mercenary corps scattered in a panic and fled separately. Sorokin's flagship fed all its energy into the engines, entered overload mode, and warped away at full speed, the starlight outside the window stretching into luminous threads.

But before they could escape for long, a piercing buzzing alarm suddenly sounded on the radar!

"Boom!"

In the next second, the entire spaceship shook violently, abruptly exiting warp mode, going from extreme motion to extreme stillness. The enormous inertia caused all the crew members except for Sorokin to tumble into a mess.

Sorokin ignored the cries of pain from the crew and hurriedly looked out the window.

He saw that the surrounding space was filled with magic arrays, from which extended glass-like, semi-transparent arcane tentacles that tightly缠住了the entire spaceship and were constantly tightening and squeezing. Inside the ship, the ear-splitting sound of tearing metal armor could be clearly heard, and cracks appeared in the alloy walls.

At the same time, a magic portal suddenly opened directly in front of the spaceship, and Bai Geer led a group of Firstborns out of it.

"Bai Geer!"

Sorokin's eyes spewed angry flames as he gnashed his teeth, old and new hatred surging in his heart.

That damned mage!

At that moment, the spaceship was suddenly taken over by a virtual mechanic among the Firstborns and automatically entered communication mode.

The next moment, Oathkeeper's projection appeared in the cabin, looking Sorokin up and down with an expression of three parts excitement, three parts curiosity, and four parts annoyance.

"So, you're the one who bypassed the Soul Flame's defenses and possessed my subordinate?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Who are you people?" Sorokin raised his guard to the maximum.

"Interesting. You wouldn't say you just happened to be passing by, would you?" Oathkeeper narrowed his eyes.

"Listen to me, I…"

"You'll have plenty of time to explain later!"

Before Sorokin could finish speaking, dozens of Beyond Grade As attacked simultaneously, and astonishing energy erupted, heading straight for Sorokin's spaceship.

Boom!

The spaceship was instantly crushed into molecular dust by the torrent of energy. Sorokin barely managed to eject from the ship at the last moment, feeling the desperate disparity in combat power and cursing inwardly.

He had originally wanted to stabilize these people with words, but they had directly attacked, leaving him helpless.

Although his physical body was not the foundation of his life, Sorokin did not want to fall into the hands of these people.

"I have no choice but to fight!"

Sorokin gritted his teeth inwardly, recalled most of his Soul Seeds, and his entire temperament suddenly changed, revealing a sense of coldness and violence. An astonishing mental wave erupted from him, and the surrounding space rippled visibly, as if a mental storm had been created out of thin air!

Sensing this wave, Oathkeeper's gaze sharpened, and he pulled his teammates into the mental chat channel, instructing, "Be careful, this guy is very strong. Don't let him get the upper hand."

"Don't worry, there are a lot of us!"

The others laughed mockingly and swarmed forward.

The two sides clashed fiercely, and the battle erupted. However, in less than a few seconds, Sorokin fell into a one-sided disadvantage.

His combat power was indeed very strong, and he could occupy a place among the peak Beyond Grade As. However, no matter how strong he was, he had not entered a new level and was still within the scope of Beyond Grade A.

With dozens of Beyond Grade As swarming him, Sorokin could only be beaten, no matter how powerful his methods were. Even an evolved version of the Otherworld Deity would have had a similar fate.

Sorokin could only defend with difficulty. Soon, his mask was shattered, and everyone finally saw his face clearly.

"This guy is… Sorokin of the Infinite Financial Group?"

Oathkeeper was stunned.

He hadn't expected that the guy who infiltrated their organization was actually a well-known financial tycoon in the universe.

Wasn't this guy notoriously weak, at the bottom of the Beyond Grade As? How could he have such strength?

Could it be that Sorokin had always pretended to be weak to hide his strength and was such a coward?

Just as he was wondering, Bai Geer suddenly discovered something from Sorokin's combat style and exclaimed, "This power… could you be the Spirit Emperor?"

"What?"

Everyone's bodies shook, and they hurriedly observed carefully, all noticing clues.

Modern people could only analyze the Spirit Emperor's abilities from data, but they were from the same era as the Spirit Emperor and had fought countless times, so they immediately noticed the clues.

Hearing this, Sorokin cursed inwardly.

He had been avoiding going all out precisely because he was afraid of being recognized, but he couldn't avoid it after all.

He knew that he couldn't hide it from these acquaintances. Since he had already planned to abandon this identity and thought that acquaintances could at least talk to each other, he simply stopped pretending and shouted in a deep voice, "It's me! You bastards should have died long ago, why are you still alive?!"

"It really is you, Rivell Sissoho!"

Many of the Firstborns looked surprised, and their attacks slowed down slightly.

If it were a stranger, they wouldn't have any psychological fluctuations, but the Spirit Emperor was a figure from their era, at least an acquaintance. Everyone was very curious about what was going on with Sorokin.

They hadn't revived you, so could it be that this guy had never died at all?

Bai Geer's eyes flickered, and he recalled what Black Star had said, implying that the Spirit Emperor was still alive.

"You bastard, did you fake your death back then?"

Bai Geer was greatly shocked and surprised. "I clearly beat you to death back then, and there wasn't a trace of life signal left. How did you do it?"

"How dare you mention it!"

Sorokin dodged another magic arrow that could penetrate a planet, and veins bulged on his forehead, as he recalled the memories of the past.

At that time, his physical body had lost its life, and he was indeed on the verge of death. His strong unwillingness prompted him to unleash his potential, allowing his ability to awaken a second time and complete its sublimation, comprehending the ability of \[Soul Immortality], otherwise he would have died with his original physical body in the Exploration Era war.

At that moment, Oathkeeper thought of something and suddenly became suspicious of his judgment of the traitor.

It seemed that Sorokin didn't look like he had known about this all along. Could it be that it had nothing to do with the organization's previous information leaks?

"I didn't expect you to be the Spirit Emperor back then. You've been hiding deep… How did you discover us?"

"I just wanted to retrieve the Soul Flame and followed the induction. I didn't know anything about you," Sorokin gritted his teeth. "Stop fighting, let me go!"

Oathkeeper recalled the process of what had just happened and believed him about sixty or seventy percent, but he still shook his head.

"Whether you knew it before or not, you've stumbled upon our secret today, so don't leave. We're all from the same era, let's have a good chat… but that'll have to wait until you've lost your ability to resist. Just surrender obediently. There's no possibility of you escaping, so why continue to suffer?"

The others echoed him, most of them not intending to kill Sorokin immediately. After all, he was an acquaintance from the old era, and it was fate to meet again in the modern era. They all wanted to inquire about Sorokin's experiences over the years.

Bang!

At that moment, Sorokin was punched in the face by Pan Er Gong again and sent spinning out, looking disheveled. He forced himself to concentrate and not be distracted, observing the battlefield environment, and his heart sank.

Dozens of Beyond Grade As formed a circle around him, and he had no ability to break through it head-on. In terms of mobility, the mage's teleportation completely outclassed his mental ability. There was no possibility of escape.

Was this body that he had painstakingly cultivated going to be lost here? He had clearly wanted to use it to deal with Black Star, but he hadn't even seen Black Star's face yet!

Although, with the characteristics of his ability, Sorokin was somewhat confident that he wouldn't die here, but if he could escape with his body, he didn't want to take the risk. After all, with the previous record of faking his death, these people would definitely check him more carefully.

How many years had it been since he had been so embarrassed?! His training in "cowardice" was still not enough. If he had known he would stir up a hornet's nest, why would he have wanted to kill Black Star? Wouldn't it have been better to just retire!

Sorokin regretted it deeply.

"What, aren't you surrendering yet?" Bai Geer snorted. "Don't think that just because we're acquaintances, we won't kill you. I can kill you once, and I can kill you a second time!"

Hearing this, Sorokin suddenly had a flash of inspiration and recalled a long-sealed memory.

"I remember! Saint Apostle, you are the Saint Apostle!"

The memories of the Exploration Era became vivid again. Sorokin had heard of the name of the Saint Apostle back then, but he had sneered at it and didn't join.

After so long, the Firstborns had died one by one, and he had long thought that the secret society-like Saint Apostle organization had disappeared into the long river of history.

When he had first discovered dozens of Beyond Grade As, Sorokin had been too shocked and busy running away to even think about it. But just now, in order to find a possibility of escape, his brain had been spinning rapidly, and he had finally remembered the "rumors" circulating among the Firstborns during the Exploration Era.

So…

"The Holy Sanctuary Revival is real?! You succeeded?!"

Sorokin's face changed drastically, his tone full of disbelief.

If they had been revived, then everything made sense. He hadn't expected that such unfounded rumors would actually be true!

Seeing Sorokin guess the truth, everyone present was shocked.

The Spirit Emperor was an acquaintance from the same era and knew the inside story, so it wasn't impossible for him to guess the truth. However, even though everyone was mentally prepared for this, they still felt frightened when their secret was suddenly exposed.

At that moment, a series of electric sparks flashed through Sorokin's brain, connecting all his previous experiences together. A plan quickly surfaced in his mind, and ecstasy surged into his heart, like finding a luminous exit in the dark abyss, finding the only hope for escape!

The Saint Apostle was so mysterious, they definitely didn't want to expose the information about the Holy Sanctuary Revival. This was the only handle he could use. Only if he gambled that these people wouldn't dare to expose it would there be a chance for things to turn around!

As his thoughts raced, Sorokin didn't hesitate and shouted, "You've been hiding your identities and guarding the secret of the Holy Sanctuary Revival. You must remember that my ability allows me to possess others. I can't escape your encirclement today, but before you kill me, with my ability, I have plenty of time to control bodies in other star systems and spread the news of the Holy Sanctuary Revival! Stop immediately if you don't want to leak the information, otherwise I'll immediately expose the information to all forces!"

As his voice fell, everyone's expressions changed, and they subconsciously slowed down their attacks, all looking at Oathkeeper.

"… Are you threatening us?" Oathkeeper's eyes flickered uncertainly.

"You forced me to do this, I only want to survive!" Sorokin wiped the blood from his forehead, his heart had no confidence, but he could only pretend to be tough, and said in a deep voice, "You are the host of the Soul Flame, you can try to stop me, but can you bear the consequences? It's better if only I know the secret, than if the entire universe knows it, right?"

Oathkeeper silently sized up Sorokin for a while. As the atmosphere became increasingly tense, he suddenly raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, stop."

As his voice fell, everyone's attacks stopped, but they still surrounded Sorokin with unfriendly expressions, not allowing him to escape.

This really hit Oathkeeper's weak spot. He knew what impact the exposure of the Holy Sanctuary Revival would bring. In comparison, Sorokin's life was insignificant in his eyes.

Oathkeeper was also an expert in the spiritual domain, but he did not have 100% confidence in preventing Sorokin from using his ability to control his hosts. Who knew what new methods this guy had developed after living for so long?

A cornered dog will jump over a wall. Oathkeeper felt that things didn't necessarily have to go to that point. He planned to play it safe and see how things went.

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ps: Pushing the book "The First Evolution", a new work by Juan Tu, one of the trilogy of evolution, interested brothers can go and take a look