Chapter 451 A Divine Power That Needs Sublimation (5600, First Update)

In a daze, she felt a refreshing sea breeze.

Muddled, Sarah awoke from a long nightmare.

Immediately, she quickly realized that her surroundings were no longer the dark and gloomy dungeons of Twilight City, and the air was no longer filled with the power of restrictive magic that weakened prisoners.

"Where am I?"

The girl blinked her eyes in confusion, and then she saw the source of the refreshing sea breeze – an endless, bright blue, jubilant sea.

The seawater churned with waves, carrying a rumbling tide, which quickly sobered her up.

"Wait, wasn't I captured by the Fire People, locked in a prison, and about to be judged?"

"Why am I on the beach? Could this be heaven? Am I dead?"

Although she had woken up, it brought even greater confusion.

Sarah wasn't a girl who knew nothing about the world. Having lived with her tribe on the sea, she was well aware that her clan, who lived on the sea, and the Fire and Wind People, who lived on the land, were enemies.

Since she had been captured, even if she wasn't a pirate, she certainly wouldn't escape being judged.

What's more, Sarah remembered that she was about to be taken to be judged and executed before she fainted.

If that was the case, then was this the divine kingdom of the Wind God? Could it be... that they, who had abandoned the path of the Wind God, could also be accepted by God?

Thinking about these things in a somewhat confused state, the Wind Folk girl's eyes turned, and she saw on the beach not far away a gray-haired priest following behind a black-haired youth, seemingly in conversation.

The gray-haired priest was tall, with a thick, iron-bound covenant hanging from his waist. His face was somewhat old, but his eyes were bright.

The black-haired youth, however, had his back to her, so she couldn't see his face clearly, and could only sense a solemn and grand aura... but even just from this back view, his presence surpassed the entire ocean, as if he were the center of the world.

—Who are they, and why are they here?

The Wind Folk might be inferior to the Fire Folk in terms of agility, but they were far superior in terms of basic vision and hearing.

Feeling uneasy, and not knowing what the situation was, Sarah tilted her ear slightly, and heard the voices of their conversation.

"Aemon, why can't the power of God extend into the sea?"

This was the voice of the black-haired youth. The voice was sacred, as if it did not come from this world, but descended into the present world across a great distance. His tone was indifferent: "And what exactly are those guys who live in the sea?"

—Sea Folk? Could it be, a topic related to me?!

Immediately, Sarah held her breath. She closed her eyes, pretending to still be unconscious, while calming down to listen.

"My lord, I'm not very clear about pirates."

Standing with Su Zhou on the edge of the beach, watching the tide rise and fall, Aemon looked at the faint silhouettes of the islands at the end of the distant sea, his tone solemn: "But at least one thing is certain."

"That is, the origin of all pirates comes from a 'rebellion' more than a hundred years ago. A rebellion that occurred in the Central Sanctuary, and then spread to the entire Holy Fire Kingdom – and at that time, you descended an unprecedentedly powerful divine punishment, killing many rebels."

"However, some rebels still survived. They fled to the sea, and for some reason, your divine punishment stopped when they left the mainland. These survivors roamed and multiplied in the islands, and then evolved into the many pirates who now roam the seven seas."

"What kind of rebellion was it?"

"...I'm sorry, my lord, that's information that only senior Chosen Ones and God-blessed can obtain. My authority is not enough, and I cannot know."

Aemon shook his head slightly, recalling the pirates who attacked the Twilight City Temple a few months ago and stole the fragments of the Source Water Soul. His voice couldn't help but carry a hint of disgust: "But no matter what, those who live in the sea are lawless people who despise the code."

"They don't understand love and friendship, kinship and morality, they only know how to plunder, kill, do whatever they want, and..."

"Nonsense!"

A clear, slightly angry female voice rang out.

Immediately, Aemon turned around in surprise, looking behind him.

Su Zhou, who had already known that the other party had woken up, also turned his head with interest, watching the direction where the Wind Folk girl was.

"We Sea Folk are not monsters who only know how to plunder and kill, and don't know about kinship and friendship!"

It could be seen that the Wind Folk girl had stood up, and the wings behind her, which had been disguised as long hair, vibrated slightly, looking as if her long hair was moving without wind.

Facing the slander against herself and her family, she couldn't help but stand up in a moment of agitation, and loudly rebuked the gray-haired priest's slander: "We just live on the islands, and live independently without relying on the Lord – not everyone is a pirate madman, don't confuse us with them!"

But soon, after saying this, her body stiffened, and she realized the stupidity of her actions. Immediately, Sarah squatted down again, holding her head in her hands, shivering.

—Damn, damn it! One of these two people is a priest, and although I don't know what the other's identity is, he looks very strong at first glance, and that priest is also respectful to him...

Am I, am I going to die?

However, after a brief silence, Sarah did not receive the reprimand and attack she had imagined.

"Then can you tell me?"

Su Zhou turned around and asked the somewhat frightened Wind Folk girl in a calm tone: "Tell me about the specific situation of the sea residents."

Grand and majestic.

When being stared at by those cyan-purple dragon eyes, the shivering Sarah felt as if she was being watched by a sea monster whale, a behemoth in the Terrified Sea, one that could contend with several Chosen Ones.

No, it was a hundred times more majestic than the aura of a sea monster whale!

But unexpectedly, there was no pressure.

It was like facing the sea, facing the sky, and facing the endless starry sky above her head in the dark night – she was certainly small, but when looking up at it, she didn't have to worry about it hurting her.

For a moment, watching Su Zhou, Sarah forgot her fear and trepidation, but she also forgot to reply.

It wasn't until the gray-haired priest coughed slightly, reminding her, that she came back to her senses and murmured, "Okay, okay."

Some time later.

"My two lords, the relationship between us Sea Folk and those pirates is actually not very good."

Around Twilight City, along the Jubilant Sea.

By a bonfire on the coast, the Wind Folk girl, who hadn't eaten anything for a long time, took a string of grilled fish from the helpless Aemon, and without caring if it was hot, she couldn't wait to open her mouth and bite down.

It could be seen that Sarah's mouth was full of dense, sharp, and extremely hard teeth – that was a characteristic of the Wind Folk with thick bloodlines.

With a bite, even the fish bones were crushed. The hungry girl tore off a mouthful of fish and swallowed it, then opened her mouth contentedly, continuing: "Although some people in our tribe do choose to join the pirates, most of the time, we actually live on our own islands, and don't interfere with each other."

"Of course, they have always wanted to plunder us, but who told us that we live in a remote place and our strength is not bad? What's more, there are very dangerous sea beasts wandering around, and if it's not necessary, those pirates won't risk a shipwreck to come over, after all, the islands they occupy can also be self-sufficient, and there's no reason to fight us."

"Is that so. So the sea isn't just made up of pirates, but also you 'Sea Folk'?"

Sitting in front of Sarah, Su Zhou, who had a general understanding of her situation, looked at the cheerful and talkative Wind Folk girl with interest. He sat on a reef, without any pretense of being a god: "And it sounds like your tribe didn't come from the Holy Fire Continent in the past, but from the New Continent, the real Wind Folk?"

This wasn't Su Zhou's wild guess, but in his eyes, Sarah did indeed give him the same feeling as the Wind God of the past.

For example, Sarah's hair, and headdress, although it looks like real hair, is actually a mimicry of her wings.

And the ornaments around the girl's abdomen, which look like belts, are actually mimicries of the other pair of arms.

Although Sarah is far from being like the Wind God of the past, whose whole body, even her clothes, were mimicked by exoskeleton armor, at least, that almost human-like appearance and form is indeed the result of simulation.

"Yes, my lord, we do come from the Wind Continent."

In response, Sarah readily admitted Su Zhou's guess: "On our side, you are the Old Continent."

"Then why did you abandon the Wind Lord, leave the mainland, and go to sea?"

"This..."

Noticing that Sarah was quite hesitant, and cast a somewhat fearful glance at Aemon beside her, Su Zhou reached out and waved his hand: "It's okay, I don't mind."

"...If the Lord doesn't mind, I have no reason to mind either." The gray-haired priest shook his head slightly and said.

Although he still felt a little awkward in his heart, since the God didn't care, what could he say?

"Then, I'll say it..."

After confirming that Su Zhou and Aemon's attitudes were indeed not like those of the other Fire Folk and Wind Folk, Sarah calmed down, and then said briefly: "Because there is no freedom."

"Under the Lord's rule, we have no freedom."

With such a sentence as the opening, Sarah took a breath, and then began a brief but refined narration.

The situation regarding the Wind Folk and the New Continent was much simpler than Su Zhou had imagined.

According to the covenant 'Records of Separation', in the past, after the Wind God carried out the New Era Creation with Su Zhou and Elias, He re-promoted a group of Wind Folk, that is, Insect People, and lived with them.

But after Su Zhou left, because the living habits of the Insect People and the Human Race did have some conflicts, in order to avoid conflicts between the two sides, and destroy the hard-won peace, the Wind God and Elias joined forces to separate the sea, and moved most of the Wind Folk to the New Continent.

This was the process of the separation of the Wind and Fire Folk – and the various stories that happened in it, as well as the relationship between the gods, were collectively referred to as 'Records of Separation'.

But unlike humans, the Insect People are, after all, evolved from insects. The social clusters of the Wind Folk are very different from those of the Fire Folk.

"Each tribe can only do one kind of work. We divide the work with each other, and form the entire Wind Folk society."

After gnawing all the fish bones and eating them, Sarah, who had recovered a little strength, sat in front of the bonfire. She rested her hands on her chin, staring at the flames in front of her.

The Wind Folk girl seemed to be recalling the inheritance memory in her bloodline. She thought while earnestly recounting: "Spider People can only engage in sewing, Armor People can only work, Ant People do nothing but farm, and Bee People like me have to be flower farmers and collect honey all their lives."

"Even those tribes responsible for exploring the New Continent can only explore the continent all their lives. Each person has a corresponding work reservation from birth, and it will not change."

She raised her head, looking at the sky, which had now darkened and began to show twilight and starlight. Sarah murmured: "Although, those jobs are the most suitable jobs for us, but we are, after all, intelligent, living people, and we will always be dissatisfied – occasionally the Ant People also want to explore the frontier, and occasionally the Bee People also want to engage in art, there's nothing strange about that, right?"

Speaking of this, this Wind Folk girl, who looked only a little over ten years old, but didn't actually know how old she was, showed an almost 'fearful' look. Her gaze at the bonfire became hazy, and she muttered to herself: "But the Lord, the Lord has merged into our souls. The Lord has become the bridge connecting our major Insect People tribes, a 'network consciousness' that connects all of us Insect People together."

"Through this network, all Insect People's thoughts gradually merge together, our thoughts gradually synchronize with other people's thoughts, gradually share, and can know each other's joys, sorrows, and happiness... but that feeling, that feeling like a drop of water merging into a sea, made my ancestors shudder."

Hearing this, Aemon didn't feel anything yet, but Su Zhou frowned.

—Cluster consciousness?

He remembered the Sky Demons he had seen on Qingqiu Star not long ago, and the great existence behind the Sky Demons, 'Destiny'.

—Whether it's the covenant that restrains the people, or this cluster consciousness, both are civilizations and life forms that Destiny is optimistic about... Elias and the Wind God both used this method to lead the people, could it be said that they were subtly influenced by Destiny?

All of this was just speculation. The thoughts in his heart flashed by. Su Zhou calmed down and continued to listen to Sarah's story.

The Wind Folk girl did not notice Su Zhou's momentary distraction. Her expression carried a hint of fear and confusion as she narrated the memories in her bloodline: "We know that the Lord loves us, and hopes that we will love each other. He hopes that we will be the best, and the work assigned according to each person's talent is naturally the most suitable for us. Free choice is obviously not the best choice."

Sighing lightly, Sarah raised her head and looked at Su Zhou and Aemon, with some fear still remaining in her inherited memories in her eyes: "But my ancestors, and I, can't accept that kind of life – so my ancestors left the Wind Continent and went to sea, and firmly engraved this memory in our bloodline."

"In this way, we can get rid of the network created by the Lord, and we can also freely choose how to live!"

After speaking, Sarah paused, then turned her head to look at the frowning Aemon, waving her hand, emphasizing: "Lord Priest, I know you have great misunderstandings about us Sea Folk, but you must know that we are different from pirates, we are just pursuing freedom, but we never hinder the freedom of others!"

"And that group of pirates are the thugs who like to hinder the freedom of others the most!"

"Well, now I know, Miss Sarah."

After listening to all of this, Aemon nodded heavily.

If it was really because of this reason that they left the mainland, he actually agreed with them a little in his heart.

After all, although there are many covenants of the Fire Folk, they have never restrained 'who should do what'.

"Could it be that the Wind Lord really did something wrong?"

Even, Aemon had such a rebellious idea in his heart: "At least according to Sarah, their choice is not a 'sin', and can even be said to be an act worthy of encouragement."

"Then why didn't I have any idea of understanding the Sea Folk before meeting the Lord, but simply hated them, and didn't believe anything they said?"

Since choosing to follow Su Zhou, the gray-haired priest had discovered that, in his heart, he had a faint suspicion about all the oaths and creeds in the covenant.

It wasn't questioning, but Aemon understood after knowing that 'gods can also make mistakes' that since gods can make mistakes, then people must also make mistakes, and have misunderstandings and prejudices.

The prejudices between the Fire Folk had long since disappeared due to the restraint of the covenant, but no one had ever corrected the prejudices against the Sea Folk – most people had never seen pirates in their lives, let alone lived in the sea in person, but they could greatly criticize the other party's way of life and morality. This idea was indeed strange.

Although Aemon didn't completely believe Sarah's words yet, what Sarah said did make sense, and the Lord didn't have any doubts, proving that the other party didn't lie... so it wouldn't hurt to believe it.

At this time, Su Zhou, who had dispelled the Mushin state, nodded slightly – he could be sure that what Sarah said was indeed the truth.

The bloodline memories of the Wind Folk, like the bloodline inheritance of the Quasi-Dao family, record the real sights and sounds of the ancestors who left this memory, and are almost impossible to be false. Mushin could also confirm this.

Moreover, both the living state of the Wind Folk and the reasons for the rebellion of Sarah and her clan were very real.

"So that's it, is this the order chosen by the Wind God?"

The youth thought so, and then couldn't help but sigh: "Cluster will, or rather, a spiritual network collective. In addition to racial division of labor, generation after generation, it is indeed a living method suitable for insect cluster civilization."

Insects are indeed a large race whose respective strengths are extremely differentiated. It is indeed naturally efficient for a group to handle one type of work – just like letting ants dig holes, letting bees build nests, letting dragonflies explore, and letting spiders sew... is there anything strange about that?

On the other hand, it would be abnormal to let ants fly, let dragonflies spin silk, and let bees run to dig holes and plant mushrooms.

However, it is also normal to want to freely choose the work you want, rather than the work you are good at.

"So that's it, this is the 'freedom to choose wrong'..."

But in a sense, for Insect People, for the civilization of the Wind Folk, this is also a kind of evil. After all, if all Insect People ignore their innate talents and indiscriminately engage in other work, then Insect People civilization will undoubtedly be in chaos.

'The freedom to choose evil'.

Although he had already thought about it in his heart, Sarah's words did make Su Zhou more clear about what that 'freedom to choose evil' was all about, which Yala had told him a long time ago, in the reincarnation world, after he killed the Water God.

Those were all correct parts, but none of them were completely correct.

—If this is also evil, then as the Devourer of Evil Demon Lord, I am unwilling to be hostile to it.

Feeling something in his heart, the cyan-purple 'Heavenly Soul', which condensed all of Su Zhou's divine powers, began to tremble slightly.

Like a dragon ball, the 'Heavenly Soul Karma Position' shining brightly in Su Zhou's soul space was now like a star, constantly spewing out streams of spiritual power like solar flares, illuminating all the darkness.

At the core of the countless rune-entwined divine power, a new thing was being derived.

And it gave the youth a sense of enlightenment.

"The essence of the Devourer of Evil Demon Lord's divine power has begun to fall behind my needs."

"It needs to be sublimated."

I revised the subsequent outline in detail yesterday, and the update was late, I'm sorry.

There will be an update today as well.