Chapter 1 Auras of Great Existence

It wasn't difficult to separate the aura of a Great Existence from the evil spirit. In his soul space, Yala easily plucked it out after batting the evil spirit around with her tail like a racket.

The aura of a Great Existence, and the Heavenly God Imprint.

Su Zhou was well aware of the importance of both.

The former was like a ticket to various other worlds, while the latter was like a universal teleporter that allowed him to traverse worlds even though he was only a transcendent cultivator—it also had various other wonderful uses, such as kicking a Great Existence like Yala back into her seal at crucial moments.

But with Yala right beside him, there was no need to mention that use aloud, it would hurt their feelings.

Of course, Su Zhou was also well aware that the dangers in other worlds were not to be taken lightly.

Take the Divine Wood World for example—if his leveling speed hadn't been fast enough, and if the local forces hadn't forged the Nirvana Blade, which countered the Demon Emperor's lineage, leading to a series of seemingly ordinary operations that ultimately achieved the best result, Su Zhou couldn't guarantee that he would have escaped unscathed. He might have had to flee in a sorry state, using the Heavenly God Imprint to run back home to save his life.

"My strength isn't at the point where I can treat other worlds like dungeons—rather, the strength of other worlds also increases. Underestimating other worlds will definitely lead to trouble."

Even though he had just killed the Shepherd, a Transcendent, Su Zhou was well aware that if it hadn't been for the South Sea Fleet's cooperation in forcing the Shepherd to only be able to escape in spirit form, he would have had to unleash at least a hundred more lightning strikes, taking the better part of a day to finish him off without exposing his trump cards.

Therefore, Su Zhou remained very calm in the face of Yala's rather bewitching words: "So, who is this Great Existence? Is he called the Lonely Master? A Great Existence worshiped by scum like the Shepherd... could he be as vile as Twilight?"

"Not quite."

Speaking of old friends, Yala's interest was piqued. Su Zhou could feel her straightening up in his hair, and if this wasn't backstage at an official press conference, she might have wiggled her tail: "That's right, his honorific title is the Lonely Master, the origin of all underworlds and lands, the ruler of death and reincarnation, decay and rebirth."

"As for the Shepherd, I said, he's a black fan, right? The Lonely Master himself, or rather, most Great Existences, have a very 'kind' attitude towards life. Of course, for you humans and other kinds of minds and lives, that kindness might be a little hard to accept, but the Lonely Master happens to be one of the most gentle of them all, second only to those two guys from the Twin Divine Trees."

"Oh, really?" Su Zhou was slightly taken aback... He wasn't very clear about the attitude of the Twin Divine Trees, but judging from the benefits that the Banyan Undying Tree and the Tree of the Great Path in the Divine Wood World had given him in the end, they were indeed Great Existences who weren't very active and were relatively gentle.

And the Lonely Master was similar to them. It was hard to imagine that a being with the domains of death and decay would be so gentle.

But on second thought, it wasn't strange. Although the title of Underworld God was scary, most Underworld Gods were not evil gods in essence.

In fact, most Underworld Gods also had the related divine duties of judgment, earth, and the birth of new life.

Osiris in Egyptian mythology was a typical example. He had many related divine duties such as the underworld, souls, harvest, plants, and agriculture. He also had the power to judge the dead, was the giver of civilization, and the king of the underworld, presiding over the judgment of whether people could obtain eternal life after death.

And Hades was the same. As the Mycenaean myth's king of the underworld or the general term for the underworld, his power was only the underworld, but his wife was also the daughter of the goddess of agriculture, the goddess of grain. Land and the underworld were not separated, and new life and decay always appeared together.

And the underworld goddess in ancient myths in Central Asia had the divine duties of the underworld, judgment, enacting laws, and adjudicating. Her sister was also the god of harvest... the relationship between the two was very close.

Similarly, the ancient myths of Zheng Country also had similar divine duties. Houtu Huangdi was the most typical god. He was the god of the earth, the king of Youdu, the earth mother who nurtures all things, and the god of the underworld who accepts all the dead. And the derived gods such as the Lord of Mount Tai and Yama also had the responsibility of judgment.

The transformation of the earth and the underworld, the repetition of new life to death, and the meaning of judging all of this was reincarnation itself. The number of Underworld Gods was also very large, but their myths were mostly similar.

Unlike the Divine Trees, the countless gods derived from the Lonely Master had extremely important positions in the myths of various worlds. Most of them were either one of the supreme gods or one of the main gods.

"I'm not surprised that this one was sealed."

Although the meaning represented by the Underworld God was not as bad as most people imagined at first glance, it was not as detached from the world as the Divine Wood. Therefore, Su Zhou didn't jab Yala again in this regard. He just asked with great curiosity, "But Yala, it's rare for me to hear you say good things about other Great Existences, instead of calling them deadbeats... Speaking of which, snakes in many myths represent 'eternal life and reincarnation,' right? You and the Underworld God should be enemies."

"Not really that good. And you probably got something wrong. There's no reason why one manages the underworld and the other makes people immortal, so the two have to be hostile to each other." As the serpent spirit said this, she turned her tail. She thought for a while, as if she was pondering what kind of language to use to describe Su Zhou in a more vivid way: "How should I put it, the Lonely Master himself is a good guy, but his ideas."

As she spoke, Yala used her tail to point to her head, turning it in circles, vaguely expressing a gesture of 'something wrong in the head,' and then said: "His 'kindness' has a big problem."

"Let me put it this way, do all the myths and legends around the world have death, the underworld, and reincarnation? Those are all manifestations of him. In the eyes of the Lonely Master, the person before reincarnation and the person after reincarnation are the same existence, no matter how many times they die and are reborn. And what he loves most is to admire what kind of courage life can bloom in this endless cycle."

"This can be seen from the fact that a large part of his dependents are heroic spirits who transcend death, are fearless of death, and do not even return to the underworld—he most appreciates those who can 'break free' from reincarnation and death. And my projection among them will occasionally play a certain role."

"Is that so?"

Su Zhou wasn't stupid. Although what she said was a bit vague, he keenly noticed the danger implied in Yala's words.

In the eyes of the Lonely Master, life and death are the same existence before and after reincarnation, which means that he doesn't really care about temporary death.

The most precious life in the eyes of mortals is just an insignificant repetition in his endless cycle.

But he greatly appreciates individuals who can jump out of reincarnation... but if people want to bloom the light of courage, they must encounter great danger and great turmoil.

No life can be born with courage out of thin air. Only the most intense battles and collisions can give birth to its existence.

The Lonely Master may indeed love all life, but for ordinary people who cannot even transcend reincarnation, it may be a little difficult to understand this kind of love.

"So." Su Zhou cautiously guessed: "The world where the Lonely Master is sealed is very dangerous?"

"More than dangerous, it's simply hell!" Yala told a bad joke in an exaggerated tone, but she didn't really care. Instead, she comforted Su Zhou: "But don't worry too much. As long as you are prepared, as my chosen champion, you will never encounter an insurmountable danger in any world."

"It's just that you do need some defensive magic items to block the danger for you—the Azure Shield is good, but when it comes to defense, what's wrong with having more?"

"You have a point." Su Zhou agreed with this. Although he had super-speed regeneration and a strong body, he also had a sense of pain! Su Zhou wasn't a masochist, why did he have to get hurt?

"I already have the Demon Emperor Dragon Horn Spear and the Nirvana Blade. These two weapons are more than enough for me now, and I have leveled up to the Transcendent realm. The power that I can unleash using the Nirvana Blade, which belongs to the same lineage as me, is far greater than in the Divine Wood World."

He thought for a while, then nodded: "I do need a set of armor, or a shield. Well, it would be best if I could get a set of exoskeleton armor!"

This wasn't nonsense or an unrealistic wish.

When school started, Su Zhou would really become a professor at the top-tier Transcendent Academy. With his authority, it wouldn't be strange to allocate a set of exoskeleton armor to himself, or even apply for a set of custom-made exoskeleton armor.

Coincidentally, the press conference and the subsequent announcement were almost over. Su Zhou picked up the headset that could directly connect to Yan Sheng again and asked about this matter in a roundabout way.

It was called roundabout, but according to Su Zhou's rhetoric, there wasn't much difference between directly asking 'I want an exoskeleton armor, is that possible?' He almost directly said, 'Get me one too!'

But surprisingly, the other party didn't seem surprised at all.

[After all, you're an eighteen-year-old young man, it's not strange that you like exoskeleton armor. Various data show that you are indeed very interested in this.]

Obviously, Yan Sheng misunderstood something... or maybe he didn't misunderstand. In short, he had indeed thought about this matter for a long time, and replied with a smile: [We were still wondering when you would make a similar request—I didn't expect you to ask now.]

And Su Zhou was satisfied after hearing that after the relevant team from the Transcendent Academy was in place after school started, a team dedicated to him would be responsible for designing all the related equipment for him, and the exoskeleton armor was also among them, and hung up the communication.

"So that's what it feels like to have a big tree to lean against... I can get magic items for free without spending money?" He thought happily: "I can even get an official license to legally kill bad guys! Life is getting better!"

"Alas, it seems that the decision not to hide my talent back then was very correct!"

Thinking like this, Su Zhou went to the camp to meet up with the Shao siblings—although this South Sea beach trip had completely changed halfway through, the result was still good in general.

And at this moment, in the reports on various TV stations and in the paper and online news, Su Zhou's official code name finally appeared.

[Dragon King] and [Thunder Lord].

This was the official positioning of Su Zhou by Zheng Country.