Chapter 1 Freedom

Freedom.

That is, self-governance, acting according to one's own will, and taking responsibility for one's own actions.

The opposite of this is law.

Constrained by others, told what not to do, shackled in thought, yet still expected to sing and dance.

Therefore, the Sea Folk hate laws, hate codes, hate covenants.

They hate all regulations, suggestions, and oaths that bind their hands and feet, yet still require them to love others.

Because of this, when every young Sea Folk child grows old enough to understand freedom and law, their parents educate them with this passage, letting them know that they left the continent and came to the sea in order to resist the ugly laws for the sake of beautiful freedom.

This is the truth of the Sea Folk.

However, for the boy who was still a child at that time, the truth did not seem to be something unquestionable.

——The fact that one ‘must’ hate the law seems to be a kind of unfreedom.

"Isn't true freedom also the ability to choose to obey laws and regulations, and to follow covenants and codes?"

In an ordinary Sea Folk fishing village in the Troublesea during a hot summer, the boy with pure white hair and deep purple dragon eyes questioned the ‘truth’ his parents told him with some confusion: "Having to hate something... is so unfree!"

"You unfilial son!"

What responded to him was his father's violent fists, which were so heavy that they could be described as cold-blooded and ruthless. If his mother hadn't stopped his father, the boy would have been beaten unconscious at that time.

And in the end, with a mouthful of blood and bruises all over his body, he heard his father's angry scolding, his anger not yet extinguished: "You don't know what we gave up to obtain our current freedom!"

Freedom... is it such an important thing?

At that time, the boy didn't feel much pain from his injuries, nor much anger towards his father.

He was still just puzzled: "Really, is it that important?"

After thinking about it for several years, one night when his father was drunk, the grown-up boy calmly picked up a sharp knife and inserted it into the other's heart without hesitation.

"You, you unfilial son... do you hate me that much!?"

Startled awake by the intense pain, before dying, the boy's father glared at his child. He, who no longer had much strength to scold and curse, raised his hand, wanting to pull out the knife stuck in his heart, but before this action was completed, the knife was pushed in deeper by the boy with even greater force, completely burying it in his chest.

"No, I don't hate you."

After doing all this, the boy replied sincerely, "I just thought I had the freedom to kill, so I wanted to try it out. You just happened to be nearby."

"Now it seems, I really do have it—the feeling of freedom is really good."

"Ahhhhh—"

Hearing her husband's angry rebuke, the woman woke up from her dream and hurried over to check. What she saw was this scene—and she subconsciously screamed, then watched in horror as her son casually pulled the knife out of her husband's chest. The gushing blood was like a fountain, staining the boy's snow-white hair and cheeks red: "Bai, Bai Jing, what are you doing?!"

Hearing his mother's question, the boy named Bai Jing turned his head with some annoyance. The deep purple dragon eyes, derived from the bloodline of the Lord of Judgment, flickered with some inexplicable sparks.

"Mom, you're too loud."

He complained like this, then, holding the knife, walked towards his mother, who was kneeling on the ground in fear.

The feeling of freedom... is quite nice.

Of course, all of this was just a small interlude in the growth history of the boy named Bai Jing.

Long after, when Bai Jing had grown into a man, he understood why his father insisted on freedom in the past, to the point that he didn't hesitate to beat his own son in order to maintain it.

It was very simple—because they, who had abandoned everything and fled the continent, had nothing left but freedom.

And rather ironically, after Bai Jing read many books, even many different versions of the Temple Covenant, he realized that he really hated those laws.

In other words, his father was actually right—they, these free Sea Folk, should indeed despise the law, despise that ugly thing that makes people incomplete.

A large part of the law is people ceding their personal private rights to the regulations formed by covenants and judgments. Ordinary people have no right to kill, no right to take revenge. If they and their families are harmed, they can't personally retaliate against the enemy's family, let alone the enemy himself. And after doing all this, the punishment given by the law may even be less than the harm the enemy inflicted.

But if that's the case, then what if the law allows victims to inflict reasonable punishment on their enemies and criminals.

Could that be called freedom?

No.

Bai Jing didn't think so.

Because that's not called freedom, but equal revenge.

True freedom... should be without any logic, whether anyone does anything to oneself or not, whether oneself has any intentions towards others or not, one can do anything to others as one pleases.

One moment, people can chat happily, like confidants, but in the next moment, they can cut open the other's throat, enjoying the beautiful sight of the other's bloody foam overflowing from their throat, listening to the ‘heh heh’ sound that's like singing—this is freedom.

One's parents were killed by the enemy with cruel methods, but the victim doesn't care at all, not only inviting the other party to drink and play together, but even happily treating him to a banquet, without a trace of hatred—this is freedom.

In a situation where everyone is earnestly studying knowledge, one not only doesn't read, but also interferes with others' reading, tearing up others' paper and pens, and mocking others' efforts—this is freedom.

In a situation where all other Sea Folk are repeating the cycle of plundering and being plundered, everyone is wantonly killing each other at sea, singing loudly in the storms, then recklessly robbing everywhere, and holding uninhibited gatherings with women they've plundered on the islands, one diligently studies history books and ancient texts alone, enriching one's knowledge—this is undoubtedly also freedom.

So-called freedom is being able to do anything without restraint.

So-called freedom is being able to willingly accept restraints.

Freedom is not necessarily beautiful; it can certainly be ugly. Freedom can be unbridled, but it can also be strictly self-disciplined.

Choosing the beautiful is freedom, and choosing the ugly is also freedom. Only by acknowledging all of them can one be considered a sound, free person.

As for whether he is free?

Bai Jing is, of course, a free person.

When all the Sea Folk were acting wantonly, they taught the young boys that only by violating more laws, indulging in more enjoyment, plundering, and killing could they be called free—but Bai Jing showed them what was even freer than indulging in enjoyment, and that was autonomously choosing to diligently study transcendent power when he could have been indulging in enjoyment, and then beginning his more than twenty hours of cultivation a day.

In fact, while most pirates didn't even recognize words, Bai Jing had already read through all the Temple Covenants and various transcendent knowledge classics of the entire world for more than three hundred years, becoming a truly erudite Sea Scholar.

While most pirates didn't even recognize words, this man had already memorized all the Temple Covenants, all the widely publicized classics, and all the cultivation books of the past four hundred years. In addition to that, he had also collected the most precious documents written by that group of rebel clergy during the rebellion a century ago.

He spent a long time honing himself, learning by himself, and growing by himself. In the end, before the age of thirty, he surpassed all the pirates in the entire Seven Seas who thought they were free, and became the Sea King.

Then, he went from Sea King to Sea Emperor.

But... even after becoming a Great Pirate who dominated the Seven Seas, becoming a Sea Emperor who awed all directions in the sea, could that be called freedom?

The man who had accomplished all these incredible achievements still had such confusion in his heart, and there was still some beast roaring within.

No—that's still not free enough!

Even as a Sea Emperor, he could only act wantonly in the sea. On land, there were still dozens of God's Chosen and three True Gods—their existence prevented many Sea Emperors and Sea Kings from freely going ashore to burn, kill, and plunder, and prevented them from going ashore to study books.

"Not enough, far from enough. There are still people above me, still Gods."

Even after becoming a Sea Emperor, Bai Jing felt that he was still not free enough.

But these frustrating days were finally coming to an end.

Under the suggestion and request of an existence from another world, the pirates spent a long time searching within the ancient and tranquil Meditation Sea and finally found clues to becoming a God.

And Bai Jing also found the key to true freedom in this world.

——As long as I become a God, no one will be able to restrain me anymore.

Whether it's covenants, codes, rulings, judgments, everything.

No one can hinder people's whims, no one can stop people's sudden ideas, no one can hinder people from killing, and no one can refuse people from saving others.

After becoming a God, this is absolute freedom.

At that time, Bai Jing couldn't help but imagine the future.

——I can kill people, turn them into furniture, and eat them; I can also turn slaves into nobles, let them become kings, and rule over everyone who was above them before.

——I can destroy temples, burn the covenants and books inside, and insult the crystallization of human wisdom and order; at the same time, I must also build schools, make all transcendent knowledge public, and let everyone see it for free.

——I can weaken people's intelligence and fool them, negate all of humanity's wisdom; I can wantonly spread all the realities that the ruling class is unwilling to spread, and present the bloody truth before everyone's eyes.

That's it. That's it. That's it.

The more he thought about it, the more excited the man became.

True freedom is when ‘I’ feel free, that is freedom. As for whether ‘I’ have been deceived... being willing to be deceived is also ‘my’ freedom.

The freedom to live, the freedom to die.

The freedom to oppress others, the freedom to be oppressed by others.

The freedom to advance, the freedom to fall.

The freedom to subjectively determine good and evil, the freedom to subjectively determine right and wrong.

What his parents said was indeed correct—freedom is indeed such an important thing. Can anyone really accept living unfreely? What difference is there between that and an insect without intelligence?

He wanted to bring this kind of freedom to everyone.

"Sea Emperor Bai Jing, are you, are you listening?"

The Seven Seas, the Troublesea, the Seven Seas Allied Forces advance base.

Black, finely-grained water-sinking wood formed the soundproof walls of the command hall, and the fragile, thick curtains hanging from the top further blocked the light from the outside. Besides the dim yellow elemental lights hanging from the roof, there were no other light sources.

And a white-haired, purple-eyed man who looked very young was sitting on a seat carved with Sea Demon Whale patterns, listlessly half-opening his eyes, seemingly half-asleep and half-awake.

In a command hall that had been converted from a municipal hall, a cautious voice sounded: "Sea Emperor, what do you, think, of my suggestion?"

"It's nothing special."

In response, the white-haired man let out a big yawn. He replied calmly, "Look, I'm almost falling asleep listening—or do you think what you're saying is interesting?"

Faced with Bai Jing's almost humiliating reply, the middle-aged pirate who had been talking for a long time suddenly turned red in the face, his black beard shaking.

But due to the Sea Emperor's deterrence, he didn't dare to say anything for a while.

And Bai Jing didn't say anything sarcastic like, ‘You don't even dare to speak, and you call yourself a free pirate?’ because the freedom not to dare to speak is also freedom.

At this time, he just raised his head, turned his eyes, and calmly stared at the other party with his purple dragon eyes, staring at this ordinary pirate with an unremarkable soul, seemingly waiting for the other party's reply.

"I think, it's very interesting."

After a while, the pirate still mustered his courage, gritted his teeth, and repeated his previous suggestion to Bai Jing again.

"Sea Emperor, the news of Sea King Yaerbo being captured has spread throughout the fleet. Now it can basically be confirmed that the Deep Diver has disappeared, and Sea King Yaerbo has really been captured and completely fallen into the hands of the Temple."

He said like this, his gaze towards the white-haired man carrying a trace of deep longing: "Sea Emperor Bai Jing, I think I can also fill in for that ritual—I can do everything that Yaerbo can do, and his strength may not be much stronger than mine!"

"Hmm?"

After lazily listening to the other party's second suggestion, Bai Jing raised his head and sized up the middle-aged pirate in front of him.

His eyes were deep purple. This was the Dragon Bloodline that the Lord of Judgment had bestowed upon all living things. All the Fire Folk had some Dragon Blood characteristics, and some of them would be more obvious, growing scales and Dragon Eyes.

And Bai Jing's bloodline density was visibly several times thicker than that of most Fire Folk. Being stared at by these deep purple Dragon Eyes even made the middle-aged pirate feel a chill.

"What you said is a bit interesting."

Smiling like this, staring at the pirate who had made his request, Bai Jing grinned, revealing fine and sharp teeth, like a shark's, or like a dragon's, and layers of sharp scales covered the skin behind his eye patterns, extending all the way to the roots of his ears, occupying a third of his handsome face.

The white-haired Sea Emperor slowly stood up and said calmly to the man in front of him, "Are you trying to say that you want to replace Yaerbo, become the new Sea King, and then join our plan, and ascend to Godhood together in the future?"

"There's a hint of that, it's rare to find someone as opportunistic as you."

When Bai Jing stood up, the pirate who intended to replace Yaerbo felt a strong sense of oppression coming from him—he was just too tall. His height, due to the Dragon Bloodline's reversion to his ancestors, exceeded two meters and thirty centimeters, making him seem like a humanoid giant whale. In addition to that, that abnormal sense of danger came again.

Afterward, he heard the leisurely words of the Sea Emperor in front of him: "To be honest, although Yaerbo is an uninteresting person, I quite like his beard. That red beard is like blood, allowing me to see the color crimson without tearing his throat."

"Ah, speaking of this, I want to see what the color of your blood is."

At first, the middle-aged pirate didn't understand what Bai Jing meant.

But soon, he was shocked to discover that the man in front of him was already smiling and reaching out to him, casually grabbing towards his neck.

"You can't kill me!"

In an instant, sensing a crisis of life and death, the middle-aged pirate erupted with great power. In just a moment, layers of thick ice condensed in the command hall, and ultra-low temperatures below minus one hundred and fifty degrees Celsius rapidly spread.

It had to be said that the strength of the pirate who intended to replace Yaerbo was indeed not bad.

When he unleashed his Origin Water Soul's supernatural power, the air directly liquefied around him, solidified, and finally condensed into an almost indestructible solid atmospheric armor. Moreover, countless fine and sharp ice crystals grew out of the originally humid seaside air, and the ice crystals condensed, then turned into his blade, and slashed towards Bai Jing with an ear-piercing sonic boom.

But all of these actions were unable to stop a large hand that was casually stretched out.

"Oh, I can—"

Speaking lightly and casually, Bai Jing calmly shattered the sharp ice blade of the pirate in front of him, penetrated the other party's solid condensed atmospheric armor, isolated the ultra-low temperature of nearly minus two hundred degrees Celsius at the other party's main body, and then skillfully pinched the other party's Adam's apple.

Then, Bai Jing exerted force gently, shattering it along with the flesh.

"Cough—"

Immediately, ice-blue blood gushed out from the wound. The middle-aged pirate's eyes bulged—as a powerful pirate at the peak of the Chosen One, how could he not be able to control his blood? It was just a shattered throat bone. He could continue to live even if his heart was destroyed.

But the moment Bai Jing touched him, he realized in horror that all the power, all the blood, and even the moisture in his body began to act ‘freely,’ completely disregarding his orders—as a result, not to mention blocking Bai Jing's attack, who was originally stronger than him, it even made him not have the strength to deal with his own injuries.

Thud—the sound of kneeling on the ground rang out. The pirate's consciousness began to blur rapidly. He collapsed to the ground, and extremely cold ice-blue blood began to spill on the floor of the command hall, creating layers of thick ice and raised ice ridges.

"I've really never seen this color of blood before."

Curiously raising his hand, Bai Jing looked at the ice-blue blood in his hand. The tall Sea Emperor sat back in his seat, then stretched out his slender tongue and licked his palm: "Hmm... it tastes a bit like sweet ice cubes."

"It's quite delicious."

"What's wrong, Bai Jing?"

As the fluctuations of the battle spread, five more consciousnesses quickly arrived.

They asked the Sea Emperor with doubt: "We sensed Lennar's power fluctuations just now. What happened to him?"

The voices of consciousnesses fluctuated in the soul space. Bai Jing replied nonchalantly: "Lennar wanted to replace Yaerbo. I think people like that who are opportunistic are quite annoying, so I killed him."

"Anyway, the ritual of changing the weather and affecting the elemental cycle has already ended. The world's elemental balance has been pried loose—soon, as we find the Origin Water Soul, launch the Deep Sea Ritual, and induce the four elements to break away from the cycle and dissociate from each other, the era of the deep sea will come."

"At that time, we can become Gods of the Seven Seas... ah, it's six seas now. Anyway, that's how it is. We don't need to find someone to replace Yaerbo, do we? After all, he's an old buddy who we've been planning with for more than a decade."

"Why bother killing him? He's at least a Sea King candidate-level great pirate. You just killed him like that, and then you have to go clean up his subordinates. It's just a waste of time."

For Bai Jing's chaos, which was more like doing whatever he wanted than being free and unrestrained, the other five Sea Emperors and Sea Kings were very helpless.

But no one dared to have any opinions.

Because, in the past few decades, this seemingly free and unrestrained guy had already established his absolute supreme authority in the Seven Seas with absolute power.

Among them, one consciousness who was also a Sea Emperor sighed. Only other Sea Emperors dared to say a few more words in front of Bai Jing: "Alright, the ritual is indeed about to be completed, and these affiliated pirates are not of much use."

"Right? That's indeed the case." In response, Bai Jing, who had already sat back in his seat and continued to half-close his eyes and ponder, exhaled. He asked lazily, "What did the Vanguard Delegate say? When will we start the plan?"

"He said we can start whenever we want. He can act at any time."

Hearing this answer, Bai Jing burst into hearty laughter, causing the walls of the command hall to tremble slightly: "Hahahaha, that's really a good guy—tell him."

His tone suddenly lowered, and the white-haired man turned his head and looked into the depths of the ocean not far away.

The Sea Emperor's deep purple Dragon Eyes were full of curiosity and desire: "As long as he wants to, I can start at any time."

"Then I'll reply like that—but be prepared, Bai Jing. You're the strongest among us. Yaerbo was captured, so we have to be prepared to withstand a possible raid led by the Fire Temple."

"Alright, what a pain."

Bai Jing shook his head with some regret: "It's just a pity that Yaerbo didn't get to act with us in this era of imminent freedom—I liked his red beard, and his free old man."

At the same time.

Yaerbo, who was pitied by the Sea Emperors and was intended to have his position replaced by many people, was currently being used as various admission tickets by Su Zhou to pass through each checkpoint.

Lailin City, Wumo City, White Dove City, Qixin City... Su Zhou and his group traveled all the way, and every independent God's Chosen territory required to pass through a checkpoint once.

Because of the climatic disasters that had been frequently occurring throughout the continent recently, the actions of the clergy had begun to be restricted. According to the Code, they had to stay in their local areas and contribute their own strength to combating the disasters before they could move freely.

Although he didn't intend to stay, Su Zhou never minded helping others.

In fact, when some priests and God's Chosen were unable to arrive in time, he would directly help, so as to prevent the locals from suffering more disasters.

The young man's mentality was a bit like that of hardworking parents... If the child can pay a little price to independently complete something, that's naturally good, but if this matter requires bloodshed to accomplish, then it's unnecessary, because the meaning of parents is to avoid the child learning more things without getting hurt.

"It's really hard, this feeling of being both a father and a mother..."

After simulating the True Dragon Divine Power and directly using wind and water assistance to bring rain to a vast agricultural plain, Su Zhou couldn't help but sigh in a low voice.

At this time, he had already left the plain that was celebrating the heavy rain. Now, he was in Qixin City in the central region of the Holy Fire Continent, in a VIP room of a restaurant.

As for the young man's sigh, Yala in the soul space shook his head: "Haven't you noticed anything wrong?"

"No."

In response, Su Zhou became solemn. He looked quite seriously at the window of the VIP room: "Of course I've noticed—these natural disasters are all signs of elemental imbalance."

"Whether it's drought, floods, heavy snow, or barrenness, at the end of the day, they're all signals that the elements of this world are beginning to become unbalanced... Although it's very elementary, if I hadn't spent a long time in an elemental world where the elements were completely unbalanced, I might not have been able to feel this kind of aura."

Just then, Su Zhou heard Aimon's soul transmission coming from outside the VIP room.

"My Lord, would you like barley tea or barley wine?"

"Barley tea, please." Replying like this, the young man couldn't help but nod slightly: "This place is developing quite well. Commoners can even build restaurants for consumption, and the service attitude is very good."

As for why Su Zhou was staying in the VIP room of the Qixin City restaurant, it was actually quite a coincidence.

All the way, relying on Yaerbo's face, the head of this Sea King of the Troublesea, Su Zhou and his group traveled almost unimpeded on the Holy Fire Continent. Even the most stubborn and conservative clerics, upon seeing the face of one of the seven Sea Kings, would do their best to allow him to pass through, and allow Su Zhou to enter the city and observe the true living conditions of the commoners on the Holy Fire Continent.

During this process, Yaerbo, feeling extremely ashamed, even intended to commit suicide by detonating the shards of the Origin Water Soul in his body, so as to avoid the increasingly excessive humiliation—but unfortunately, with Su Zhou around, how could he possibly succeed in committing suicide?

As for the shards of the Origin Water Soul, Su Zhou had already observed them.

It was a powerful divine object that could allow people to comprehend supernatural powers early and help to perfect them.

Even if it wasn't a true shard of the Water Soul, it was still a derivative of the Water Soul. And the supernatural powers that were derived early were like Su Zhou's cultivation of Sacred Geometry, and the Evil Devouring Demon Lord that he obtained in the Awakening realm. At first, they were all incomplete forms. It was only when they reached the Commander realm that they would gradually become complete and perfect.

As for why they couldn't leave the sea, the reason was also very simple—the power of the shards of the Origin Water Soul to activate supernatural powers early would itself consume a large amount of water elemental magic power, and before the Commander realm, ordinary cultivators were simply unable to afford this kind of elemental magic power demand. Only at sea, relying on the extremely rich natural elemental power, could they maintain the consumption. Once they left the sea, cultivators would naturally begin to decline like a leaking pot.

In short, as a peak Transcendent cultivator, Yaerbo, although he was also a leaking pot, could still hold on for a long time, enough to support him until he reached the Central Sanctuary.

However, the face of the Sea King might not be useful at all times.

Most of those who paid attention to the Sea King's related information were coastal cities. Although the priests in the inland cities of the Holy Fire Kingdom had seen the images, they might not recognize him when they actually met.

For example, the city where Su Zhou was currently located, Qixin City, was such a place that had not recognized Yaerbo.

Because they were really unable to confirm whether Yaerbo was the Sea King, the reviewing priest could only repeatedly apologize, asking Su Zhou to come to the restaurant to rest, while he went to the temple and asked other priests who were familiar with the situation of the pirates to come and confirm.

At times like this, Yaerbo would instead be furious.

"How could you guys not recognize me?!"

At that time, the Great Pirate was so angry that if Su Zhou hadn't pinned him to the ground, he probably would have jumped up and punched the ignorant local priest.

This was probably the last bit of self-esteem of the ticket.

Located in the central part of the Holy Fire Continent, next to a large freshwater lake, Qixin City had quite good urban construction. There were restaurants, large farmers' markets, freshwater aquaculture, and local tool workshops and alchemy workshops. All kinds of workshops and markets were very complete.

Because the Cycle World was ruled by the Temple, it couldn't be simply divided by standards like feudal era or modern era, but Su Zhou did indeed see things like elemental furnaces and elemental cannons in the alchemy workshops of Qixin City—those were similar to the true energy furnaces of the Divine Wood World, and in a sense, the prerequisites for transcendent industrialization.

"Perhaps in a hundred years, the Cycle World will gradually become an elemental industrialized world, like the Divine Wood World... Hmm?"

Pondering quietly, Su Zhou suddenly looked at the door of the VIP room and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Then, the tightly closed door opened.

And a figure rushed towards Su Zhou at its fastest speed.

"Wait, what are you trying to do?!"

At this time, Aimon, who was communicating with the restaurant waiter, noticed this and said in surprise: "Stop—"

But when he hurried back to the VIP room, he did not see the attack scene he had expected.

On the contrary, a middle-aged fisherman wearing simple clothes and dark skin was now prostrate in front of Su Zhou, weeping bitterly.

After carefully observing, Aimon was shocked to realize that this fisherman did not have hands.

And on the Holy Fire Continent, not having hands could only mean one thing.

That was, he was a criminal.

"Lord Priest, Lord Priest, please help me..."

The gray-haired priest could hear the middle-aged fisherman with severed hands weeping and worshiping Su Zhou. He wanted to kowtow, but was stopped by Su Zhou.

But even so, he was still bitterly complaining: "I'm being wronged, Lord Priest. I saw that Priest Ryan was respectful to you, so I knew you were a big shot—I know that doing this is wrong, violating the covenant precepts, but I'm really being wronged and can only come to you to appeal..."

Priest Ryan was the reviewing priest who had received Su Zhou and the others earlier.

"If you have anything to say, speak properly. Don't kneel down randomly or be incoherent. If I can help, I will definitely help you."

Su Zhou replied calmly. He reached out and helped the other party up, then raised his head and looked at Aimon, nodding slightly.

Aimon frowned immediately.

This priest who followed God but didn't blindly believe was very clear about what his Lord meant.

"He's not lying."

"He's really being wronged."