Chapter 1 At the Start

At first glance, Su Zhou had assumed that the grassland was either a plaything the Spirit of the Wisdom Tree had conjured up, or simply a hobby.

After all, judging from how enthusiastically it played with Sarah and how meticulously it organized Su Zhou’s personal space, the Wisdom Tree genuinely enjoyed liveliness and companionship, so he hadn't bothered to observe it closely.

He hadn't expected that this grassland, while indeed created by the Wisdom Tree... was actually made from Wraith Souls!

"Whoa, what's going on?!"

Su Zhou was stunned as he focused his attention on the grassland in his soul space.

He soon discovered that all the plants in that grassland, whether lush spiritual herbs or fledgling saplings, were essentially all souls of the Heavenly Devils collected from Qingqiu Star!

And among them, those with abundant spiritual energy but hadn't yet matured, were merely sprouting grass seeds, transformed from the Wraith Souls Su Zhou hadn't used.

The richer the spiritual energy, the slower the growth.

The Wraith Soul of the Heavenly Devil King was particularly slow to grow. Since Su Zhou had given it to the Wisdom Tree over half a year ago, it had only sprouted a tip.

Influenced by the divine power of the Wisdom Tree, these Wraith Souls buried in his soul space had gradually undergone some kind of sublimation or transformation... to the point where, like the Spirit of the Wisdom Tree, they were gradually taking root here and beginning to gestate something.

Would those Heavenly Devil Souls without self-awareness be reborn after a long time?

Regardless of what they would gestate and become in the future... Su Zhou now had a complex expression.

"I had speculated when the Wisdom Tree took root in my soul space... and now, that speculation is about to become a reality."

"In a while, will this place become a vast prairie?"

With this thought in mind, Su Zhou could only shake his head and sigh before preparing to retrieve the Heavenly Devil Souls planted there.

"No, don't..."

However, just as Su Zhou was about to act, he sensed a wave of aggrieved soul fluctuations.

Looking back, he perceived that the Spirit of the Wisdom Tree, sensing Su Zhou's thoughts, was emitting an aura of 'miserable pity.' Its cyan-white spirit leaves drooped, and its light dimmed. If it were to take human form, it would surely have an expression on the verge of tears.

"Living, not easy! Growing, so hard!"

--It had finally managed to plant them well, nourish them, and sprout them!

Although it didn't say it explicitly, Su Zhou clearly understood its meaning.

"This..."

At this moment, Su Zhou really wanted to say, 'Tree, I never intended to bring these Wraith Souls to life!' In fact, he still didn't understand how the Wisdom Tree had managed to bring these Wraith Souls to life. It should be a more common form of 'transformation,' like the reincarnation of souls into spiritual herbs.

In any case, the young man indeed understood its hardship, and he vaguely had a premonition that when these soul-herbs transformed from Wraith Souls matured, they would definitely be more useful and more precious than mere Wraith Souls.

But now, he urgently needed to use the Wraith Soul of the Heavenly Devil King to correct the imprint on the Origin Water Soul, so he couldn't possibly not pull it out.

Moreover, after being infused with wood energy, this Wraith Soul might be even more suitable for his upcoming plan than Su Zhou had imagined.

Therefore, after pondering for a while, Su Zhou made a decision.

"Shu Shu, look?"

He took out the Wraith Souls he had collected before, belonging to the new Water Gods like the Beluga Whale. After the young man looked at them and confirmed that these Wraith Souls were indeed useless to him, he stuffed them all into the Spirit of the Wisdom Tree.

"I'll take that Wraith Soul. You can play with these new Wraith Souls for now."

With Su Zhou's current strength, ordinary Wraith Souls were no longer useful to him. Collecting them was merely as batteries for the 'Unification of All Thoughts' (Wan Nian Gui Yi) divine ability. Only extremely special Wraith Souls containing rare inheritances could catch Su Zhou's eye.

However, even such Wraith Souls couldn't be said to be definitely useful. After all, Su Zhou's strength had reached this point, and his divine abilities, powers, techniques, and combat methods had already taken shape. In other words, he already had a template fully adapted to various situations. If a new ability couldn't be integrated into this template, it wouldn't enhance his strength; instead, Su Zhou would have to spend time digesting and integrating it, making the cost-benefit ratio extremely low.

Since that was the case, he might as well give them all to the Wisdom Tree and see what it could grow.

After all, given his near-symbiotic relationship with the Wisdom Tree, if the Wisdom Tree was happy, he would be happy too.

"Okay!"

Upon seeing Su Zhou take out three Wraith Souls of the Overlord Tier, the Spirit of the Wisdom Tree immediately became excited. Its entire body immediately glowed, and its originally drooping leaves became full again, appearing spirited. Carefully extending its branches, it received the three Wraith Souls from Su Zhou and immediately enveloped them with its power, then carefully placed them within its canopy.

--Newly born Wraith Souls couldn't be planted directly, because many of the extreme auras and soul remnants within them still remained. The Wisdom Tree would soothe these remnants and make them gentle.

This step could be called consecration or incubation. In short, the Wisdom Tree enjoyed it and no longer begged Su Zhou not to take the Wraith Soul of the Heavenly Devil King.

"Sigh, such a childlike nature."

After taking out the Wraith Soul, Su Zhou smiled at the Wisdom Tree with helplessness, but his tone was gentle: "But, it really is at a child's age."

Real world.

Inside Crystal Mountain.

In Su Zhou's hand, an extremely dark Wraith Soul, so dim that it seemed to devour light, appeared.

This Wraith Soul was originally spherical, with irregular, dim soul flames burning on its outer surface. But now, a small crack appeared above this Wraith Soul, and a black leaf bud emerged from it.

At this moment, a faint cyan light overflowed from Su Zhou's palm, turning into smooth纹路 (wenlu) patterns that spread across the Wraith Soul. This cyan light was like the dawn, bright but not dazzling. And under the spread of this warm light, the original sphere slowly changed. It began to extend and lengthen, and the original spherical shape gradually turned into a straight iron bar, and its edges transformed into sharp blades under the spread of the spiritual light.

【Six Paths · Suffering of All Beings (Liu Dao · Zhong Sheng Ying Jie)】

This Soul Sword had a jet-black blade, burned with demonic flames, while the edge was cyan, radiating divine light. Countless runes floated along the blade's edge and spine, now bright, now dim, mysterious and unpredictable.

And at the hilt, the runes symbolizing the Six Paths of Reincarnation ignited six rotating Mandala images. Among them were the solemn and sacred scenes of Devas, Humans, and Asuras, as well as the painful and degenerate scenes of Hungry Ghosts, Beasts, and Hell. These Six Paths of Reincarnation surrounded the blade and handle, serving as a guard, containing the power of the Overlord Tier, capable of performing various divine abilities using the sword as a source.

Grasping this sword tightly, Su Zhou immediately sensed that his Heavenly Soul was like a computer connected to a large mobile hard drive, linked to an entire large divine ability module. This Sword of the Suffering of All Beings was like a personification of half of the True Method of Experiencing Tribulations in the Six Paths. If it were spread outside, it could be considered a Sword of Daoist Inheritance.

"Interesting."

Just by holding it and communicating with it through spiritual power, Su Zhou felt that he had gained quite a few insights into the divine abilities of the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Soon, he found the part of the technique that he wanted.

Nodding slightly, Su Zhou chuckled and turned his head to look at the Origin Water Soul in front of him.

The source of everything.

The surging ocean currents were still churning in the deep sea. Outside, the wind was still blowing, and because of the Origin Water Soul, because of the tyranny of many, the past mistakes of the gods, and the overly strict precepts, the rebellious pirates appeared on the Seven Seas. The disasters they created affected the world, causing countless farmers to weep and countless people to fall into famine.

This was the dark side. Strict precepts always created a lot of rebellious psychology. Life was not mechanical.

But at the same time, countless people were also working together to deal with this disaster -- no matter how many people wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to satisfy their personal desires, most of the priests were busy without complaint, and countless people worked together to help the disaster-stricken areas overcome their difficulties. Merchants gave generously, chefs provided free food, and fishermen went to sea time and time again to harvest more life-saving food.

This was the bright side. The customs of years and the constant admonitions of the Code of Conduct engraved 'mutual care' and 'mutual love' in everyone's hearts. Good things always shine.

"So, one cannot rashly assert what is wrong and what is right... I was too arrogant in the past."

Smiling like this, gripping the Soul Sword tightly, Su Zhou stepped forward and plunged the Soul Sword, radiating bright divine light, into the Origin Water Soul.

Immediately, cyan紋路 (wenlu) patterns floated on the three-state water soul, and the Six Paths runes appeared in sequence, intersecting each other, suppressing the will imprints of the six Water Gods, and seeming to form a complete reincarnation, encompassing the entire Origin Water Soul.

Then, it began to 'gestate'!

A beam of extremely bright cyan light burst out from the Origin Water Soul, penetrating layers of the deep sea and standing between the sea and the sky.

【This, this is...】

In the distance, standing on the corpse of the giant octopus, Elias, who had been silent, noticed the anomaly in the distance. He raised his head and saw a pillar of light piercing through the ocean and the sky, as if it penetrated the entire world, tearing apart the dark clouds covering the sky above the Mingsi Sea and allowing the sunlight to fall.

And just as the sunlight shone on the seawater, he was shocked to find that cyan-blue ice crystals were rapidly spreading in the center of the Mingsi Sea!

Crack, crack, crack--the crisp sound of ice rubbing sounded, accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature. Ice-blue cold air was spreading on the sea, and circles of water element light rippled in the air, freezing large areas of the surrounding seawater, even solidifying into huge glaciers, floating from the deep sea and turning into vast and majestic ice islands that were dozens of miles long and still growing!

Boom! Boom! The sea rippled, and the waves surged wildly for a moment, but soon, as an even more dazzling water element light was released from the majestic ice island, the Mingsi Sea, which was about to fall into turmoil again, calmed down.

And in the center of that island, at the highest point of the glacier that looked like a continent, there was a figure laughing and letting go, causing a cyan-black solemn Soul Sword to stand on the peak of the glacier, taking root there.

Then, with that Soul Sword as the source, a giant ice-condensed tree was growing rapidly -- countless crystal-like roots spread out from the Soul Sword, and then, with the Origin Water Soul inserted into it as the foundation, spread in all directions... Soon, with the help of the surrounding vast water vapor and water elements, a small tree that was already several meters high appeared in Elias's eyes in just a few seconds, and it was still continuing to grow, becoming larger, and releasing pure and gentle water element power.

【Teacher, what does Teacher want to do?!】

Staring at this scene, Elias, who felt a faint sense of 'it's all over' because he had killed all the Water Gods, couldn't help but open his mouth wide.

The boy-like god showed a dumbfounded expression after hundreds of years.

But, that was it.

The result of the so-called innovation would take root and sprout only after everything was over, after all the suffering!

As for what Su Zhou wanted to do...

Was it to create Frostmourne, which could create Six Paths puppets and undead soldiers?

Or was it to create the Amber Sword, which held the power of the world and the power of the elements?

Of course, neither, the point was not here, not on that Soul Sword.

It could be seen that the power of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, driven by Su Zhou and the Origin Water Soul's power in the Six Paths · Suffering of All Beings Soul Sword, was rapidly 'producing' with the will imprints left by the six Water Gods as the source, using their divine ability templates!

The vast water element power began to gestate, grow, and bear fruit on this ice-condensed giant tree!

In an instant, as if decades had passed in a flash, the branches of the Origin Water Divine Tree, which was already dozens of meters high, were filled with many bizarre ice crystal fruits, swaying in the wind and emitting an extremely tempting pure water element aura.

If they were the Sea Folk, they would certainly know that these bizarre fruits, whose shapes were impossible to describe, were the 'fragments of the Origin Water Soul,' which were called the Water's Gift and the treasures of the sea by all the Sea Folk!

【All beings, listen to my words!】

At this moment, Su Zhou's voice resounded throughout the world.

The vast spiritual power, the extreme soul power, resonated with the spiritual energy between heaven and earth. Relying on the power of the Origin Water Soul, the young man, at this moment, covered his will to the entire world, to all areas with water elements.

Standing in front of the newly born Origin Water Divine Tree, Su Zhou solemnly announced to the entire world: 【I am the Lord of Judgment, the God of Judgement, I have eliminated the source of the elemental imbalance and the many natural disasters in this world.】

The young man's voice echoed between heaven and earth.

In the Sea of Troubles, Sarah's father and Sarah's mother, who had been rescued by the Fire Folk fleet, heard it. The Sea Folk raised their heads, and they and the priests and clerics of the fleet instinctively put their hands together and looked in the direction of the Mingsi Sea.

On the coast of the Sea of雀跃 (Queyue), in the square of Twilight City, the trial of the old High Priest Gero was underway, but neither the local residents nor the local priests could bring themselves to sentence the old man, who had dedicated his life to Twilight City, to the crime legally called 'death penalty.'

But at this moment, the voice of the god sounded, causing them to abandon this trial and listen to the sacred declaration.

In the Morningglow Plains, the Central Sanctuary, the entire Holy Fire Continent, and even the Wind Continent, whether they were the Fire Folk, the Wind Folk, or the Sea Folk and Pirates in the sea, everyone heard that voice that went straight to the heart.

And that voice declared: 【Today, I will make a new covenant with all beings!】

——This was an epic that was destined to be sung in the future.

At the beginning of a distant era, everything was a hazy gray mist. The Immortal Ancient Dragon and the Two Lords traveled together and opened up a new era in the darkness.

The Lord of Fire and the Lord of Wind obtained the Soul of Fire and the Soul of Wind. The Soul of Earth and the blood of the Ancient Dragon were given to all living things.

Only the Soul of Water was placed in the abyss, waiting for the exploration of the bravest.

Hundreds of years passed, the gods slept, and the soul of the Immortal Ancient Dragon had long since left, leaving only the shell called the Dragon of Judgement to pronounce judgments on the sins of all beings... This judgment was sometimes just and sometimes unjust. Evil and rebellion were born from it, leading to the birth of the Sea Folk and the brewing of disasters in the sea.

Finally, one day, the disasters began to sweep the world. The cold and dry wind blew on the land, causing the crops to wither and the land to turn into swamps and deserts. This was the tribulation from injustice.

But at this moment, the Immortal Ancient Dragon returned to the world.

The Divine Dragon, named Innovation of All Ages, who would renew all things, once again descended to the world and swept away the disasters and defeated the demons in the sea with the Lords.

And gave the so-called 'thing of hope' to the world again.

【Go find it, the divine tree hidden in the sea, floating with the ice island, the fruit that can give you power when you eat it... Try to explore every corner of the world, to explore all the new and unknown places!】

【There, there is the most important thing for life!】

All the glory, hope, dreams, and ambitions have been placed by the gods in the depths of the sea -- if you want it, then set off!

No need to worry about precepts, no need to worry about canons, no need to worry about those outdated codes, because the gods will make a new covenant with all living things, a new covenant!

"The Dragon of Innovation of All Ages!"

This was the new name of the gods. All beings listened, all beings responded, and the gods declared everything and listened to everything.

At this moment, Elias also came to Su Zhou's side. Somewhat at a loss, he stood in front of the Origin Water Divine Tree with his teacher in Su Zhou's encouraging gaze, side by side.

Then, they announced the world together.

【This is a covenant, a new covenant.】

【We will smooth out all the disasters from the outside world for you, and lead you through all the difficulties and obstacles. As long as there is injustice in the world, then call my name, and my tribulation will come and punish you.】

【But, you must also abide by our faith, walk our path, live according to the Code of Conduct and the precepts, love everyone, and be loved by everyone.】

The strong.

The strong are the wicked.

The strong make others unknowingly become similar to themselves, making the weak unable to escape. This is the sin the strong are born with.

Humans are born with sin, which is blindly believing in authority, being unable to think independently, becoming copies of the strong, becoming mass-produced products of the precepts, becoming clumsy imitations of others, thus losing their own color, even unable to judge right from wrong, only blindly obeying the majority.

The sin of the gods is the same, which is to make people blindly believe in themselves without guiding them, making them no longer human, but machines of precepts, repeating machines of canons, blind followers who cannot understand the deep meaning of the oath. The mistake of the gods is to make people worship themselves, admire themselves, and prostrate themselves before themselves, rather than letting them reflect, question, and think before gladly deciding to walk with the gods.

【If one day, you think that there is no need for the 'protection' of covenants and canons, and you can independently face all the suffering in this world, as well as the entanglement of karma between people.】

【If one day, you have your own path, break away from 'childhood,' can independently think about the rights and wrongs of the canons, can independently think about the goodness and badness of morality, and can find the way to get along with the world and all things.】

【If, someone is unwilling, unwilling to accept this love called obligation.】

【Then, I will move you out of the 'paradise' called 'precepts' and send you to the 'hell' called 'freedom.'】

【After that, whatever choice, whatever future, whatever kind of things you encounter, whatever kind of ending you get, will be decided by you.】

At this moment, in front of the Origin Water Divine Tree, the solemn Su Zhou took out the Blade of滅度 (Miedu) and resolutely slashed at the void next to the personal space.

Immediately, all the wish power chains wrapped around the personal space shattered and turned into countless fragments of light.

The shackles were broken.

And in that instant, Su Zhou, with the wish power he gained by announcing to all beings, responded to the true Lord of Judgment, the Dragon of the Masses of Humanity, descending upon the heavens and the earth.

Golden light scattered between heaven and earth, like the dawn in the evening clouds, and a great dragon flew out from countless wish power, flying around the enormous ice island, scattering brilliant golden brilliance.

Finally, He landed, lying prostrate under the Origin Water Divine Tree, calmly facing Su Zhou.

The golden dragon eyes seemed to reflect the thoughts of all beings in the Reincarnation World. Su Zhou calmly faced each other, and then said with a chuckle: "If one day in the future, a strong person comes here, finds the Origin Water Divine Tree, finds that Soul Sword and the Origin Water Soul... then, you will represent all living beings to judge whether he has the qualifications to become a new god."

"The tyranny of many is not fair, but in a sense, at least it can filter out almost all obvious evildoers."

The dragon of wish power did not make any sound. Facing Su Zhou, who had already made a covenant with the masses and seemed to be the embodiment of the wish power of all intelligent life in the entire Reincarnation World, He was silent and defaulted on all these rules, and then disappeared.

From then on, the legends of the Dragon of Judgment and the Origin Water Divine Tree would probably be passed down to later generations.

As for how to supervise this Dragon of Judgment in the future... Su Zhou felt that it should be left to Elias and the Wind Lord to correct themselves. The youth from another world could not manage for so long, no matter how far-sighted he was.

The so-called innovation is not about setting a perfect plan that can last for thousands or tens of thousands of years. Innovation is about finding mistakes and correcting them at any time... Innovation is about first thinking that you are not perfect, and then approaching perfection, instead of defaulting that you are perfect and then implementing the so-called perfect plan.

Then, the god's announcement once again resounded throughout the world.

【This is the new covenant -- I will make it with you and inscribe this oath on the divine tree.】

【And in the future, there will be newer covenants, as long as the times change, as long as all beings call, I will descend again and again, return again and again, and bring a new covenant.】

The old oath was to bring peace and stability to all beings.

The new oath clearly told everyone that if someone was unwilling to live a life of peace and stability, but had to be bound by the oath... then go to sea, go to other worlds, go to those places where you don't have to abide by the canons, and freely choose to live a life called 'freedom.'

The canons are shackles, but also guardians. Without the canons, killing people would no longer be judged as a crime, and being evil would no longer be 'evil.' A completely free world is like hell.

But, some people will definitely choose this.

They will choose to leave the absolutely peaceful Eden and go to the free hell, that is, the new world.

After that, whether to open up a new Eden in hell again, or to roam freely in the world, that is the choice of intelligent life itself.

They will grow up in Eden under the care of the gods, and then judge themselves, guide themselves, and achieve themselves, choosing the path to grow into the strong, heading to the distance, heading to the future.

The cyan-purple Heavenly Soul, brightly emitting light, under the impetus of the wish power of all beings, was rapidly absorbing experience and nourishing its foundation.

The new divine abilities were constantly being replaced, self-critically examined, and then growing.

This was Su Zhou, the path called 'innovation' -- although it had just started, it had already bloomed with a brilliance that could illuminate a world.

And, the covenant he made with all beings.

Elias stood beside his teacher. He and the youth looked together at the calm sea and the gradually dissipating dark clouds in the distance.

The sun was shining.

A new era had arrived.