Chapter 183: Unexpected

He glanced at Wang Lin, his body lightly floating towards the Rift. Wang Lin remained silent for a moment, then without a word, he shot forward and entered the Rift.

Behind them, the demonized Cultivators turned into wisps of faint smoke and followed suit.

But just as they were about to enter, the Rift suddenly closed up. It happened extremely fast; in the blink of an eye, the Rift vanished without a trace. No Cultivator entered except for Wang Lin and Duo Mu.

Wang Lin had already noticed the closing of the spatial Rift. What appeared before him now was not the Sea of Blood he had imagined, but a space emanating waves of purplish-black light.

This space was not large, about a hundred *zhang* wide. In the corners around them, several strangely shaped Magical Artifacts floated, slowly emitting gentle light.

Next to each Magical Artifact, a Cultivator sat cross-legged. Their appearance, like Duo Mu's, maintained a human form and was not demonized. Wang Lin quickly counted nine Cultivators here, excluding Duo Mu.

The moment the two entered, all the Cultivators beside the nearby Magical Artifacts opened their eyes. They simultaneously formed Hand Seals and struck several Spiritual Spells onto their respective Magical Artifacts, causing a beam of purple light to instantly shine within these artifacts.

Duo Mu suddenly turned around, his eyes flickering as he stared at Wang Lin.

Wang Lin retreated a few steps, his pupils slightly contracted. He placed his right hand on his Storage Pouch, watching the other party cautiously. Everything before him deviated significantly from his previous calculations.

At this moment, one of the nine Cultivators beside the surrounding Magical Artifacts shouted, “Duo Mu, we can't hold on for long! We only have three incense sticks' worth of time. Hurry up and explain clearly!”

Duo Mu's eyes shot out a sharp gleam as he stared at Wang Lin, saying in a deep voice, “Little fellow, since you already hid yourself, why did you show up again?”

Wang Lin frowned slightly. He looked at the other party and was about to speak, but his left hand suddenly formed a Hand Seal and grabbed behind him. The Hand Seal formed by his five fingers was the method he obtained from the Ancient God's memory, allowing him to walk freely within the Ancient God's body.

A Rift just appeared in the Void behind him, but before Wang Lin could retreat, the gap was immediately struck by a purple light shot from a Magical Artifact, causing it to instantly vanish.

Duo Mu's expression was calm, devoid of any emotion.

Wang Lin's heart sank. Staring at the other party, he slowly said, “To leave the Ancient God Land!”

“Duo Mu, why are you always so wishy-washy? Kid, I'll tell you this: once Tuo Sen's Seal is broken, everyone here will die. Only he can leave!” A tall, red-faced Cultivator shouted beside the Magical Artifact, frowning.

“Eleven of us came to this Savage Planet back then, intending to establish Immortal Caves. But we unexpectedly discovered the aura of an Ancient God here. Upon investigation, we met the Cultivator named Tuo Sen outside this Ancient God! This person's cultivation was extremely strong; even united, we were no match for him.” The red-haired elder's voice was loud and his speech was rapid. As soon as he finished, another disheveled Cultivator nearby looked up and continued sinisterly:

“Tuo Sen didn't kill us. Instead, he sincerely invited us to enter the Ancient God Land. This person understood the Ancient God Land extremely well, knowing almost everything about its Three Passes and Six Paths. According to him, he had been observing the Ancient God Land for a long time, but was unfortunately blocked at the final pass.”

“Heh heh, this person invited us to break this pass together. Although there was a minimal chance of a Legacy existing within the Ancient God's body, the temptation was immense. Even though we couldn't defeat him, we had a combined Sword Array that we hadn't used. Once this Sword Array was deployed, we were confident we could defeat him, but using it would severely damage our cultivation.”

“We entered the Ancient God's body together. Although this person's scheming was profound, we were not easily fooled. Despite mutual caution, we eventually broke the pass he spoke of. However, everything was too strange. Looking back, that pass was clearly a type of Seal. This Seal was extremely powerful and took us a lot of time. It was obviously set up by the Ancient God to Restrict something. If this person hadn't understood the Seal so thoroughly, even knowing all its flaws, we wouldn't have been able to break it. After the Seal was broken, we clearly felt that the person who called himself Tuo Sen had changed somehow, though we couldn't pinpoint what was different.”

“After successfully entering the Ancient God's body, the Ancient God Tu Si proved to be a heaven-defying genius; he truly left behind a Legacy. Within his Qi Sea Acupoint, we discovered the Legacy of Strength. Unfortunately, before we could even fight for it, the Legacy automatically dissipated and was mysteriously obtained by this person.”

“After this person obtained the Ancient God's Legacy of Strength, he suddenly burst into maniacal laughter. But just then, the Ancient God's Sea of Consciousness suddenly transformed into a giant and began a great battle with him. At this point, an even stranger scene occurred: this person seemed to know all the attack methods of the giant formed by the Ancient God's Divine Sense. In the end, the giant was defeated, its body splitting into two. One half turned into the Sea of Death, and the other half executed a powerful Divine Ability.”

“This person was clearly unfamiliar with this Spell. I remember him saying at the time, ‘There is nothing you know that I don't.’ But clearly, this Divine Ability was unknown to him. This Divine Ability instantly split the Divine Sense into a thousand parts, all burrowing into this person's body, deploying thousands of layers of Seals upon him. Finally, it forcibly dragged him into a Sea of Blood, completely Sealing him.”

“We initially thought everything was over. We didn't dare linger and hurried to leave the way we came. But the nightmare began at that moment. Out of the eleven of us, ten were captured and dragged into the Sea of Blood by demonized hands reaching out from suddenly appearing spatial Rifts, with only one person successfully escaping.”

“This Tuo Sen is truly terrifying. He managed to devise a method to break those thousands of layers of Seals in a short time. These Seals were actually strands of the Ancient God Tu Si's Divided Divine Sense. This person forcibly extracted these Divided Divine Sense strands and implanted one into each of our ten bodies.”

“For countless years since then, Cultivators would occasionally arrive here every thousand years. Each time, they would be captured by this person, and the Seal's Divided Divine Sense would be distributed into their bodies. However, he would eventually allow one intruder to escape the Ancient God Land through various Opportunities, so that they might return next time.”

“As more Cultivators arrived, this person had fewer Seals remaining. Fortunately, later Cultivators were clearly different from us; their cultivation was too low to integrate a strand of Divided Divine Sense. Often, several people had to share the distribution just to integrate one strand. Consequently, Tuo Sen's process of breaking the Seal became slower and slower.”

“But this person is truly a genius. Seeing that this method was slow to take effect, he actually came up with another way to break the Seal: the Soul Devourer!”

“Before this, we didn't even know what kind of creature a Soul Devourer was, yet this person seemed to know everything about it. He dispatched us Cultivators to capture Soul Devourers for him, allowing the Soul Devourers to devour his Sealed Divided Divine Sense.”

“This method was very effective. Unfortunately, after a Soul Devourer consumed a certain amount, it had to enter hibernation. This couldn't satisfy this person's needs, so he actually came up with the idea of cultivating a Soul Devourer. Thus, we have the Envoy Lord. He himself was a Wandering Soul, and under Tuo Sen's cultivation over countless years, he gradually evolved toward becoming a Soul Devourer.”

“Originally, it would have taken a long time for the Envoy Lord to successfully evolve into a Soul Devourer. But now, you have appeared, and everything has changed.”

All ten people spoke, except for one old man whose face was covered in wrinkles, as if he had crawled out of a grave, who remained silent the entire time. As they recounted the story, Wang Lin was suddenly shocked, but deep down, he didn't believe everything.

“The most important point is that we always had a question regarding Tuo Sen's identity: why was he so familiar with the Ancient God Land? Based on our observations over countless years, we eventually had a vague guess: Tuo Sen is not one of us. It is highly likely that he is an Evil Creature formed from a wisp of resentment that condensed inside the Ancient God Tu Si after his death!” The last sentence was spoken by Duo Mu, who spoke slowly, his expression normal.

If Wang Lin had obtained the complete Legacy of Memory, he would naturally know the truth of these matters. But now, listening to such a horrifying account, Wang Lin's expression couldn't help but change.

“Only this speculation fits why he was so familiar when he invited us into the Ancient God's body back then, and why we felt he changed after breaking the Seal of the final pass. That Seal was clearly a place of demonic thought used to Seal the inner body, similar to when Cultivators Cultivate a Cultivation Technique that attracts evil into their body. This also explains why this person knew all the Cultivation Techniques and Divine Abilities of the giant formed by the Ancient God's Divine Sense. After all, merely inheriting the Legacy of Strength is useless; only by obtaining the complete Legacy can one truly possess the Ancient God's power. All these speculations ultimately point to one thing: this person's identity is that Ancient God Tu Si, or rather, Ancient Demon Tu Si!”

As Duo Mu's words fell, Wang Lin gasped, his eyes flickering as he remained silent.

“We truly have no need to deceive you. If you rashly enter the Sea of Blood, your fate will be the same as the Soul Devourers in the Third Pass—you will only become this person's tool for breaking the Seal. When the Seal is opened, it will be your death day.”

Wang Lin was silent for a moment, then sneered, “Death day? When I die, I suppose it will also be the time when your Divine Sense dissipates, right? If what you say is true, once the person trapped in the Sea of Blood breaks the Seal, the first thing he'll do is reclaim the Divided Divine Sense!”

Duo Mu and the others fell silent.

At this moment, the old man among the ten who had remained silent cleared his throat and spoke slowly in a calm tone: “Fellow Daoist is indeed wise. After Tuo Sen successfully completes the Fusion of the Legacy of Memory and obtains the Ancient God's full cultivation, he will indeed reclaim the Divided Divine Sense from our bodies to complete his own Divine Sense. Over these many years, this Divided Divine Sense has long been Fused with us, so reclaiming it is equivalent to devouring our Divine Sense! Fellow Daoist, helping us is helping yourself. But no matter what, we won't ask you to help for nothing. If you agree, we have a generous gift for you!”

Wang Lin remained unmoved, secretly pondering how much of what the other party said was believable.

A cold light flashed in Duo Mu's eyes, and he shouted, “Junior, don't think we absolutely need your help. At worst, we'll kill you, and we'll all break up, saving us the trouble of leaving behind a hidden danger!”

“Time is almost up. Everything that needed to be said has been said. Since this kid is so stubborn, we might as well deploy the Restriction sooner rather than later. Although it's slightly inconvenient, the advantage is that we can control him freely, which saves trouble.” The sinister-faced Cultivator sneered from the side.

When Wang Lin heard this, a trace of mockery flashed in his heart. If the Restriction was truly effective, he believed these old fellows wouldn't have wasted so much time talking to him; they would have immediately used the Restriction to control him upon meeting.

Wang Lin pondered briefly and guessed the reason they weren't using the Restriction: presumably, no Restriction could conceal itself from the red-haired man named Tuo Sen.

Moreover, these people's goal was probably not that simple. It was highly likely they had a hidden, profound meaning, just like the Heavenly Demon Rogue Cultivator.

“What do you want me to do?” Wang Lin asked, his gaze calm.

When the old man with the wrinkled face heard Wang Lin's words, his heart stirred. He thought inwardly that this person did not ask about the reward first but about the task, indicating he was a calm individual who would not be easily swayed by external incentives.

“Enter the Sea of Blood. After the Seal is opened, Tuo Sen will definitely enter the Sea of Divine Sense Death directly. Once he opens the Sea of Death, you must execute a set of Hand Seals within the Sea of Consciousness—it's that simple! As for the Hand Seals, I can tell you that they are the Sealing Spell once used by the giant formed by the Ancient God's Divine Sense. We have studied it for countless years and concluded there is a thirty percent chance of success. But if you execute it, the chance can increase to seventy percent. After all, you are a Soul Devourer, and when you absorb the Divided Divine Sense within your body, you will naturally be guided by these Hand Seals.” The old man spoke slowly, his gaze calm.

Wang Lin sneered and said grimly, “With my meager Core Formation cultivation, trying to Seal Tuo Sen is simply delusional!”

The old man laughed heartily and said, “Of course we're not asking you to Seal him, but to use yourself to trigger the Divided Divine Sense you have consumed, thereby reactivating the Sea of Divine Sense Death formed by the Ancient God's Divine Sense. At that time, according to our conjecture, the Sea of Death will transform back into a Seal and completely Seal Tuo Sen.”

“If you agree, regardless of success or failure, I will give you an item. This item was obtained by the ten of us after immense effort back then. We searched through many ancient texts and finally learned that this Magic Treasure is named the Primordial Beast-Taming Ring. It can temporarily capture and control any beast in the world, though its origin is unknown. Theoretically, as long as the Spiritual Qi in your body is sufficient, even an Immortal Beast can be used by you for a short time, provided it is caught by this ring. However, the Spiritual Qi required for its use increases with the strength of the captured beast. If you want to capture an Immortal Beast, the necessary Spiritual Qi is unimaginable. We experimented once after obtaining it, but unfortunately failed. We hadn't had a second chance before Tuo Sen trapped us here.”

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One day hard, one day soft. Living in deep water and scorching fire, this is truly helplessness…