Chapter 1 The Essence of Divinity

The Heavenly Soul Karma Seat is what Su Zhou created by sublimating his divine powers and soul with the 'Path of Nature', a symbol of both 'Overlord' and 'Earth Immortal'.

This core of his soul is the essence of all Su Zhou’s divine powers, the condensation of all his strength. If translated into another system, it could be called the Seed of the Great Dao, the Source Point of the True Spirit, the Heavenly Gate of the Soul, etc. It is the testament to a cultivator's path at this stage of cultivation.

In theory, once it is born, it needs no correction. Simply cultivating it steadfastly is enough to allow an Earth Immortal to reach the peak of that realm, not to mention a great divine power like the Devouring Demon Lord, comparable to a celestial god. With its status, it wouldn't be strange for Su Zhou to cultivate to the Heavenly Immortal realm.

Moreover, according to the future envisioned by those great existences, Su Zhou could use it as the foundation for his divine powers and become a Celestial Venerable or even something beyond – the 'Heavenly Tribulation System' that could encompass one world, or even multiple worlds, is proof of that. They wouldn't fabricate something like that; they truly believed Su Zhou had the potential to be their core dependent.

But just because a divine power is strong, does that mean it needs no correction or change?

Su Zhou didn't think so.

Cultivating a fundamental divine power that goes against one’s beliefs, merely because it's powerful, simply means being dishonest, timid, and lazy with oneself. Are dishonesty, timidity, and laziness the foundation of strength?

Of course not.

So, as a strong man, after Su Zhou rejected his past 'beliefs' on the Judgment Platform of Twilight City, he felt that the Devouring Demon Lord divine power did indeed need a major overhaul.

"The path must be constantly corrected to reach the direction I want to go. Otherwise, I'll just walk blindly, and might find that the end isn't what I wanted."

"You agree, don't you, Yala?"

In the young man's dark soul space, the spirit of the Tree of Wisdom was rooted in the very center, and a crimson serpent spirit coiled around it, smiling as it answered Su Zhou.

"That is your decision, Su Zhou. I am merely a witness."

Above the serpent spirit and the spirit of the Tree of Wisdom, a clear, blue-violet crystal orb illuminated the entire soul space like the sun.

The purple, corrosive light representing 'Curse' released a highly aggressive glow, spreading through the atmosphere like ink.

The clear, blue light representing 'Wish Power' had a jade-like texture, surrounding the core of the orb.

Each time the blue and purple lights touched, they sparked a corona-like halo, and within that halo, millions of tiny rune structures surged and transformed.

Su Zhou gazed at his Heavenly Soul, knowing the source of his power.

"The power of the Devouring Demon Lord initially only fused the curses on enemies, along with fragments of their souls, into an evil soul that I could absorb. By absorbing it, I could become stronger, which is no different from absorbing incense wish power, finding dragon vein nodes, or drawing negative emotions."

"Its first evolution came in the Beast God Realm when I condensed the wishes of many spirit beasts and mixed them with the evil soul of the Beast God King to create a 'True Soul'. From then on, I could receive wishes, absorb wish power, and condense 'Wish Souls' – but it was still essentially passive reception."

With a thought, the young man extended a mental finger, pointing to a spot near the center of his Heavenly Soul.

Instantly, a rune crystal in the shape of a regular icosahedron emerged from the inner side of the Heavenly Soul.

This was the divine power rune structure representing the 'Curse-Wish Power Conversion', which Su Zhou had extracted separately. He thoughtfully gazed at the rune structure, then reached out and began to modify it, adding runes.

"Passively receiving wishes, like the Lord of Judgment in this world, who 'hears wishes' and then accepts the wish power, turning it into 'Divine Punishment' – in other words, if the 'Curse-Wish Power Conversion' structure is slightly sublimated, it's enough to serve as the core of the 'Heavenly Tribulation Godhood'."

"But I can try to integrate part of the 'Unification of All Thoughts' divine power structure into it, turning passive reception into active. That way, I don't need to control the divine power; it will operate spontaneously."

"In other words, it will become a phenomenon."

Simply put, the original 'Devouring Demon Lord' was like a quest; only by completing the quest could one absorb curses and wish power, condensing them into evil souls and wish souls. In other words, it was scavenging corpses.

But Su Zhou's modification would allow the Devouring Demon Lord to become a skill that actively collects. Su Zhou could actively collect curses and wish power that meet the requirements in a certain area, and the collection target would not only be the evil-doers and corpses of the past, but even a region, a race – if Su Zhou becomes powerful enough in the future, he could even use an entire world as a unit, and then condense evil souls.

Of course, this also has requirements, because of the nature of the divine power, the curses and wish power that Su Zhou can collect must be in line with his inner standards.

"I can start modifying the divine power now, but I only have a vague idea in my mind about the specific types of curses and wish power, and I still need to think carefully."

After all, this is a major event related to his future path, and Su Zhou didn't want to make a hasty decision, but adjusting the divine power structure in advance is never wrong.

At his will, his Heavenly Soul began to rapidly modularize. One by one, extremely regular, geometrically shaped rune groups were dismantled and stripped from his Heavenly Soul, and then reassembled like building blocks.

"So convenient – not as difficult as I imagined!"

"Wait, these rune structures are so regularly modularized… Aren't these all techniques Yala taught me before?"

Only then did Su Zhou realize how fortunate he was to have a great existence like Yala providing him with the highest level of cultivation scriptures and experience for reference.

For one thing, the sacred geometry cultivation method Su Zhou used when he first started cultivating made his foundation extremely solid. In his cultivation and divine powers, every divine power rune was as neat and tidy as a modernly planned city, and the relationship between them was as simple and clear as the various areas and departments in an industrialized city.

How to say it? Most people's divine powers are like robot models, with many different parts. Although they can form a very beautiful model, if you want to exchange parts with other models and modify them into a brand new divine power, it may not be so easy to use, and the modified model may not be handsome and useful, it can only be said that it is barely usable.

But Su Zhou is different – because of his good cultivation foundation, he can freely assemble his divine powers like freely assembling his true form, as simple as playing with Lego bricks. As long as there are enough parts, Su Zhou can easily transform a high-rise building into a Godzilla monster, a spaceship, or even a Death Star model.

Can ordinary people do that?!

Su Zhou can do it!

What is modularized divine power? (leaning back)

"What's important is that simply distinguishing between good and evil is useless. I can kill an 'evil', but I can't stop another evil from being born."

"Just like in the past, I could kill a Water God and create a new era, but there were still many shortcomings in the newly born era."

-- If it were Yala and the Silent Lord, they would definitely be satisfied.

Su Zhou assembled his divine powers, and while he was drastically modifying the core structure of his Heavenly Soul, he sighed softly: "After all, I brought change, surpassed reincarnation, and even if the final result isn't perfect, that's enough."

"But I'm not satisfied with just that."

"I want better, better – only a better future and ending can satisfy me."

In reality.

Su Zhou opened his eyes.

Instantly, the surrounding spiritual energy began to surge, trying to turn into a turbulent wave, sweeping the surrounding heaven and earth – but the young man stretched out his hand, stopping the celestial phenomenon caused by the change in his divine power core, locking the power that could instantly turn the surrounding celestial phenomena into dark clouds and rain within an inch of his body.

But even so, the terrifying aura that Su Zhou showed the moment he opened his eyes made Sarah and Aemon tremble slightly.

Even though it was already dark and the sun had set, they still felt a vast, scorching aura like the sun, as if something bright was rising before their eyes, illuminating the heaven and earth.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a moment… Miss Sarah, I have a question I want to ask you."

Facing the surprised and admiring Sarah and Aemon, Su Zhou just smiled slightly.

"Y-You ask…"

But this smile made Sarah, who was being asked, feel a little uneasy – not an unease about danger, but an unease of 'What if I can't answer his question?'

Aemon, however, was not surprised by this.

-- After all, he is my Lord, it is only natural that he has such majesty and charm.

Worthy of being my Lord! He thought, and nodded slightly.

And Su Zhou simply asked: "Why did you end up near here, captured by Twilight City? And do you know the current movements of the pirates?"

At this time, after a brief moment of confusion, Sarah had roughly figured out the current situation.

"I was probably brought out of the judgment hall of Twilight City by these two people."

"That gray-haired, old priest is an Illuminator, and this black-haired young man whom he respects so much is at least a Chosen-level High Priest, or even… a Blessed One! Only someone of that level can easily pull a Sea Folk like me out of the judgment hall."

"In that case, I have nothing to hide. I'll just tell you everything."

Calming herself, Sarah began to answer Su Zhou's question.

"Recently, the Seven Seas Kings – that is, the seven most powerful pirate lords who occupy the Seven Seas region – are converging towards the Silent Sea to explore the center of the dead Silent Sea. They occupied our tribe's island as an exploration outpost, driving us away."

"And our tribe was displaced, chased and plundered all the way by other ordinary pirates, and had no choice but to come to the territory of the Cheerful Sea."

Sarah's account was very clear.

In the entire newborn world of Tartarus, there are a total of seven seas.

[The Cheerful Sea, located between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.]

[The Furious Sea, located north of the Land of Wind, around the volcanic zone.]

[The Frightened Sea, located between the Furious Sea and the Cheerful Sea, with active currents and surging waves.]

[The Troubled Sea, located south of the Cheerful Sea, full of reefs, whirlpools, and tides.]

[The Silent Sea, located south of the Troubled Sea, without any currents or monsoons, as silent as death.]

And [The Wandering Sea] is the polar ice sea located in the southernmost part of the world, and [The Lost Sea] is the vast Arctic Ocean located in the northernmost part of the world.

Sarah originally lived in the Troubled Sea, which is full of whirlpools and powerful sea beasts, where they were self-sufficient.

Around the large island where they lived, there were even Sea Demon Whale groups comparable to transcendents, which even the Seven Seas Kings didn't want to provoke when they had nothing to do, so they could live normally without worrying about pirate attacks.

But who knew that this time, the Seven Seas Kings would actually join forces, and one of the Four Emperors, who had power comparable to a Blessed One by collecting fragments of the Soul of Origin Water and performing a ritual transformation, would shatter the Sea Demon Whale group.

Moreover, that 'Four Emperor' comparable to a Blessed One also killed the Sea Demon Whale King at the peak of the Chosen, and then easily occupied the island where Sarah's tribe originally lived, using it as a vanguard for exploring the Silent Sea with many pirates.

And what was strange this time was that these pirates, who were usually bloodthirsty and reckless, didn't kill many people this time, but just drove Sarah and her people away, so Sarah and her group struggled to run to the Cheerful Sea after a bumpy journey.

Then…

"Then, we were captured by mistake while robbing a fishing boat… I don't know why, but there were so many ships at sea during that time. When we just started robbing, seven or eight other ships surrounded us…"

Saying this, noticing the rather strange expressions of Su Zhou and Aemon, Sarah quickly waved her hands and hurriedly explained: "Wait a minute, we didn't plan to rob at first! We wanted to pay, whether it was gold, silver or jewels, but they just wouldn't sell. We really had no choice, and we were starving to death, so…"

-- This guy, he must have run into those believers who wanted to explore the Sea of Divine Descent, right? That's really bad luck.

"I roughly understand. In the end, it's still because of prejudice."

Su Zhou didn't care much about this. After all, because of prejudice, they couldn't buy anything even if they had money, so they would naturally resort to desperate measures. If we're talking about punishment, Sarah was almost publicly tried to death, so it can be considered a punishment. He didn't want to dwell on such trivial matters.

What's more, Sarah is so young, even if she wants to rob, her heart is willing but her strength is not enough.

"Who said I'm young?!"

However, just as Su Zhou casually told Aemon his opinion, he inexplicably angered Sarah.

The Wind Folk girl forcefully patted her chest, making a metallic collision sound, the clanging sound of the exoskeleton colliding. She said angrily, "Am I a little girl?"

"I'm already four years old, and I've been an adult for more than half a year!"

Aemon: "?"

Su Zhou: "?"

-- Oh, right!

Thinking about it carefully, that's right!

Su Zhou suddenly remembered that the essence of the Wind Folk is actually bug people – and this bug people race does grow extremely fast. Four years old…

Uh, theoretically, they are indeed adults…

"I didn't expect that in addition to elves, who are still considered minors even after more than a hundred years, bug people, who become adults in a few years, could also give me such a shock…"

Suppressing his thoughts, Su Zhou spoke, appeasing Sarah's dissatisfaction at being underestimated.

Then, he frowned and said: "So you were driven away from your home – and the ones who drove you away were the seven pirate lords of the Seven Seas, and among them, there are even strong men comparable to the Blessed Ones?"

"Their purpose is unknown, are they preparing to go to the Silent Sea to explore something?"

"Yes!"

Sarah nodded repeatedly. She turned her head, looked at Aemon, who had a worried expression because of this news, and said dissatisfiedly: "These pirates must have some big plans recently. You fire god priests don't go to bother them, but instead always attack us ordinary Sea Folk!"

"Heh, little girl, in the end, you are all non-believers who have abandoned the Way of God. It is merciful of us not to arrest you. It is righteous to arrest you and try you."

"It's because you're so rigid that we run to the sea!"

Su Zhou didn't care about the argument between his priest and the Wind Folk girl.

He raised his head and looked at the ocean.

At night, the sea was turbulent, the tide was rising, and you could see many fishing boats returning to port, and many cargo ships arriving at the docks from afar.

The ocean is a land without gods.

According to Aemon and other residents of Twilight City, the God of Judgment once sent down divine punishment on the first pirates, the group of betrayers, but when the betrayers came to the sea, the divine punishment disappeared for no reason.

Without a doubt, the ocean in the reincarnation world also possesses some extraordinary power.

And according to what Su Zhou knew, the only thing in the ocean designed by reincarnation that is related to divine power is the 'Soul of Origin Water' left behind when creating a new era.

"Could it be that it's really that Water Soul? Do those pirate lords want to find the Water Soul and become a 'Water God' of their own?"

Su Zhou thought to himself, he was a little uncertain, but there was no other possibility besides this.

The four elemental souls can give birth to four more gods who can achieve the Overlord level, just like the Water God and Wind God of the past, ruling an era.

And among the elemental souls of this era, the Fire Soul was given to Elias; the Wind Soul was given to the Wind God, and the Earth Soul was given to all the Fire Folk and Wind Folk by Su Zhou.

As for the God of Judgment, Su Zhou doesn't know what's going on yet, and he doesn't know how he came to be, but something must have happened to the Water Soul, otherwise, it would be impossible for such a strange phenomenon to occur where the sea can suppress divine power.

"The situation is really complicated."

Muttering to himself, Su Zhou smiled.

-- If the situation wasn't complicated, he wouldn't need to show up.

And at this moment, Aemon, who had turned Sarah almost unconscious by reciting the holy words in the covenant, turned around. He put his hands together and bowed respectfully to Su Zhou, asking: "My Lord, what should we do next?"

"The information about the divine descent must have been sent to the central sanctuary by the Twilight City Temple a long time ago. At that time, many priests will definitely come to pay homage to you…"

"As for me, I also plan to meet the Lord of Fire."

Su Zhou withdrew his gaze from the sea. He turned around and looked at the center of the Land of Holy Fire, which was also the place on the mountain where he left the reincarnation world in the past.

The young man said calmly: "Hundreds of years have passed, and I don't know what my student has become, that he would create such an order…"

"But no matter what, in fact, what he did is not bad, it's just not as good as I want it to be – I plan to catch up with him and give him some advice, I hope he can listen to it."

And at this moment, suddenly, Sarah, who was sitting on the ground, suddenly sat up. She looked at the distant sea in shock, and then raised her hand, pointing to a certain place.

"Pirates!?"

Instantly, this sentence attracted the attention of Su Zhou and Aemon.

The two of them raised their heads together and looked at the sea area that Sarah was pointing at, and Aemon immediately exclaimed in surprise: "It is indeed a pirate ship!"

"What pirates?"

Su Zhou himself didn't know what pirate ships looked like. He glanced over and found that he had just seen that ship.

-- So that's a pirate ship? It looks no different from ordinary ships…

Just as Su Zhou was wondering how Sarah and Aemon could distinguish pirate ships, he also noticed a detail on the ship.

That is, in the distance, on the pirate ship that was constantly approaching the coastline, there was a person at the bow, waving a flag vigorously.

"White…"

"A white flag?"