Chapter 1 The Deep Sea Submersible

The deep-sea submersible, emitting a faint blue light, slowly descended from the sky. It was so enormous that the Boar, a ship over fifty meters in length, looked like a child in comparison.

But even such a behemoth was nothing more than a fragile item to be handled with care for Su Zhou. He used his spiritual power to control it, gently lowering it onto the sea. Even so, the descent of the deep-sea submersible still stirred up waves, causing it and the Boar to rock together on the surface.

"Our Lord is merciful!"

When Su Zhou returned to the Boar, carrying the tightly shut-eyed, silent, and utterly unsure whether to be relieved or despairing, Yarebo, he was greeted by the Boar's entire crew, as well as Eamon and Sarah, all kneeling in worship.

Clearly, even the most thick-headed pirate knew that if Su Zhou hadn't blocked the Judgment Dragon's divine punishment, they would all be floating ashes and debris on the sea, unable to even be buried in the bellies of fish.

"Alright, alright, you're still going to be judged. I only blocked the lightning because I thought it would be more useful for you to repent alive than to die."

Su Zhou waved dismissively, signaling everyone to get up quickly. He couldn't stand such saccharine flattery. He preferred people arguing with him; that was true entertainment. "Remember, I might be a little more merciful than that dragon, but if I find out you've really done anything evil, I guarantee you'll all die miserably, far worse than being struck by lightning."

"Now, go back and steer the ship."

"Yes, yes!"

Immediately, all the crew members on the Boar scurried back to their posts, and the same went for the crew on the deep-sea submersible. After taking care of these matters, Su Zhou threw Yarebo, whom he had been carrying, onto the deck. He narrowed his eyes, staring at the man, his thoughts drifting elsewhere.

—The Dragon of Humanity's Collective.

In simpler terms, the materialized product of some kind of subconscious aggregate.

"Leviathan—the incarnation of some collective subconscious. Back in the Divine Dragon World, the Second Prince of the Kerber Empire, Kumoer, summoned a divine dragon just like that, a Dragon of Humanity's Collective."

"All signs indicate that the Judgment Dragon is such a divine dragon."

Su Zhou was no longer ignorant of supernatural powers; he knew a great deal about them. The fact that humanity's collective subconscious could materialize into an entity was not surprising. In fact, when the spiritual energy revival reached its peak, as long as a planet awakened spiritually, it would have its own consciousness.

Coincidentally, ancient earth goddesses often had dragons or snakes as symbols—as far as Su Zhou knew, in many worlds of the multiverse, if there was a world will, its form was most likely some kind of giant dragon-snake or python.

More than that, Su Zhou wanted to know why such a Dragon of Humanity's Collective would appear in a reincarnation world that was clearly not very spiritually advanced.

But soon, he had a bold guess.

"At the beginning of the era, I joined hands with Elias and the Wind God to split the 'Earth Soul' into countless fragments and bestow them upon all the Wind and Fire people."

"My intention at that time was to give everyone the potential to become a god, or at least improve their talent and spirituality."

Recalling his past actions, Su Zhou wasn't so forgetful. After all, it had only been a little over a year for him.

The Earth Soul that was split and given to all the Wind and Fire people could indeed greatly enhance everyone's innate spirituality. Although this powerful innate spiritual object, bestowed from outside, would require an extra purification step when advancing from Overlord to Hegemon rank, most people couldn't even reach the peak of Overlord. For those who could reach the peak of Overlord, purifying the Earth Soul fragments in their souls was as easy as drinking soup.

Overall, the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages.

"But now it seems… those Earth Soul fragments, through the collective subconscious of the Wind and Fire people, spontaneously, or perhaps guided by someone, aggregated together and transformed into the prototype of the 'Judgment Dragon,' the third god besides the Wind and Fire Gods."

This was not a wild guess. Su Zhou had been wondering about the Judgment Lord from the beginning, because in the reincarnation world, there were theoretically only four gods, namely the four elemental gods of earth, water, fire, and wind. Unless a truly talented local of the reincarnation world developed a Celestial God-level cultivation method in the future, there would only be these four god positions.

The pirates' goal should be to find the Source Water Soul and become a god. The Earth God was not supposed to appear, but somehow Elias or the Wind God gathered the Earth Soul from the souls of all the Wind and Fire people through various methods and used it as the foundation to simulate Su Zhou's image, condensing out the 'Judgment Dragon,' which was exactly like Su Zhou.

"That's roughly the situation… Interesting. A god connected to everyone's hearts. In that case, everything makes sense."

Thinking this, Su Zhou raised his head, looking thoughtfully at the high sky, and then turned his head to look at everyone around him.

If the Judgment Dragon was the collective subconscious of everyone in the reincarnation world, then in other words, everyone was a part of the Judgment Lord, and it was not an exaggeration that the Judgment Lord knew about every evil deed everyone committed.

The saying "Gods are three feet above your head" might be empty talk, but the Judgment Dragon truly existed in everyone's heart.

"In that case, the saying 'Judgment will come' is not false either—even a criminal, as long as he feels he is a criminal, even if no one else knows, just by accumulating his own willpower for ten or eight years, it will bring judgment upon him… Crap, although I just blasted it apart, I suddenly think this design is pretty good!"

Thinking of this, Su Zhou even became excited—he was always humble and eager to learn, and would never deny the merits of others because of prejudice: "People can't deceive their own hearts. This might be some kind of 'karma'… This design is good, it's mine now, I can definitely use it next time!"

Having roughly deduced the origin of the Judgment Dragon, Su Zhou now understood how he should sever those strands of willpower related to the 'Judgment Dragon.'

The willpower that was entangling Su Zhou was gathering on him mainly for two reasons—one was the image promotion. The image of the Judgment Dragon was clearly designed based on Su Zhou as the prototype, and the second reason was that Su Zhou was the one who split the Earth Soul and bestowed it upon all living beings.

In other words, the Judgment Dragon not only imitated Su Zhou, but it was also the 'cause' that Su Zhou had personally planted.

Therefore, to sever the willpower related to this aspect, one could either change the image of the Judgment Dragon or directly grab the Judgment Dragon and forcibly transfer it… In terms of Xianxia methods, it would be transferring karma, grabbing someone to bear the disaster.

Aside from these, Su Zhou's ultimate gain was actually only one point.

That was, he discovered that the old him was so annoying!

Thinking this, Su Zhou couldn't help but speak, muttering to himself, "Tsk, I never thought that the past me was such a demon lord, and so foolish… Too embarrassing!"

But then, Su Zhou heard Yala's teasing words: "A demon lord isn't bad either, at least you can have your revenge freely." But the youth quickly retorted: "Can't I do that now? Look at what you're saying!"

"Lord…"

Just as Su Zhou was about to start a thirty-round argument with Yala, he heard Eamon's voice beside him.

The youth turned his head and saw the gray-haired priest standing beside him with a complex expression. His wrinkled face didn't show confusion, but rather a kind of sorrow: "Are you troubled, Lord? Because of the conflict with another lord?"

"Ah, Eamon."

When Su Zhou saw his follower—or rather, the follower of the Judgment Lord—he was actually quite surprised.

Because he didn't hear 'confusion' from the other party's heart.

This was very unusual—as a believer of the Judgment Lord, Eamon wasn't confused or bewildered by his antagonism with the Judgment Dragon? That was not something an ordinary believer could do.

Thinking of it, he asked. Su Zhou turned around and motioned for Eamon to follow him to the side of the ship. The two of them looked together at the rising and falling tides at night. The youth asked directly, "Don't you find it strange? My conflict with the Judgment Dragon, both of us being gods, started because of a group of theoretically guilty pirates."

Eamon followed Su Zhou, and when he heard the youth's words, he first nodded, and then shook his head: "I find it strange, my Lord. I didn't expect you to have such a conflict."

"However, I realized that you and the Judgment Lord are different from the very beginning, when you praised the fish soup in Sunsetglow City."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Su Zhou became interested. He curiously asked, "Where do you think I'm different from the Judgment Dragon?"

Eamon was silent for a while, carefully considering his words, and then slowly said, "The Judgment Lord's teachings are to uphold fair and just judgment, with no human feelings, no compromise, no favoritism, and no tolerance."

"Judgment is merciless. As long as the precepts are violated, even good people will be punished… No, as long as the precepts are violated, then they are no longer 'good people.'"

"But I always feel that doing so is too cruel, not quite what I yearned for when I was young."

After saying such a long string of words, Eamon closed his eyes, put his hands together, prayed for a while, and then opened his eyes, continuing to stare at the sea, murmuring, "Perhaps it's because of this doubt in my heart that I have been unable to advance to Chosen for so long, my Lord. I'm actually not very devout. I may perform rituals, pray, and act according to the precepts on the surface, but in my heart, I always doubt, always feel confused, always feel helpless."

"That's a good thing, Eamon. Reasonable doubt is a virtue."

Su Zhou nodded, encouraging him: "Then, what kind of god am I to you?"

The gray-haired priest hesitated for a moment, but then he chuckled, bowing slightly to Su Zhou, calmly saying, "You have love, my Lord."

"Compared to the Judgment Lord I'm familiar with, you have more love for this world."

Saying this, Eamon straightened up again, his face returning to its original calm, with a hint of sorrow: "I can't be sure which of you and the other Lord is correct, but… you are by my side, and you allow me to question you."

"So, I think the other side is more inhumane."

"Haha, you're really wrong about that."

Hearing Eamon's description of him, Su Zhou couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head with a smile: "If we calculate based on the number of people, it's likely that the Judgment Dragon is more humane."

Then, the youth turned his head, looking at Sunsetglow City not far away, which was gradually approaching, a city full of lights even at night. He said calmly, "However, you didn't say one thing wrong."

"The biggest difference between me and the Judgment Dragon is indeed love."

Love.

Not the love between a man and a woman, or the love between parents and children, but another more general emotion.

Su Zhou found it difficult to describe the feelings in his heart for this reincarnation world, for the Wind and Fire people, these races that were almost created by his own hands.

How should he put it? Like the love of Ji Zhu—bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things.

He looked forward to their possible growth, believed in their future transcendence, tolerated their current shortcomings, and endured their temporary ignorance.

And, he firmly believed that their future would be better.

Su Zhou was the same.

This emotion could only be described as love.

Speaking to this point, Su Zhou turned around with a smile, looking at his side and behind him.

There, was Eamon, who was waiting for him to continue speaking, and Captain Nide, who didn't know when he had stood behind him with a puzzled expression. Besides that, there was Sarah, a Wind person who was slowly waking up, and some of the Boar's crew, who were working, but slowed their pace and stopped on the deck.

Even Yarebo, who knew his fate was to die, so he had been silent before, just waiting for the final judgment to come, was kneeling on the ground, silently listening.

"Lord, please tell us, what is your Dao?"

Eamon stood at the forefront, bowing to Su Zhou reverently.

"Please tell us, my Lord!"

And the others also bowed together: "We want to know your Dao."

[Since you have made a wish to me, I will grant this wish.]

Su Zhou calmly accepted everyone's bow. Facing everyone, he peacefully spoke the spiritual sound that vibrated between the two worlds: [But so that you may know, even my Dao is not complete. It must have mistakes, contradictions, and disharmony. All Daos are like this.]

[A powerful existence, even if it has the power to destroy the world, and has supernatural powers, strength, and knowledge, and its power can move mountains, overturn the seas, and do everything in the world, if there is no love in its heart, it is nothing more than a tool, just like the Judgment Dragon is to the people, nothing more than a tool for a multi-person tyranny to vent hatred.]

[It judges sins and helps the good, which is indeed just for the people. But if there is no love, all of this is meaningless to it, and it is also the same for the person being judged.]

[What is not correct? It is that after a judgment, only those who pray for the judge feel happy. The judge is just a tool, and the judged neither understands why they were judged, nor can they repent. The bystanders cannot understand why there is such a result, and cannot learn a lesson.]

Saying this, Su Zhou raised his hand, pointing to Yarebo, who was still pretending that he didn't exist. He pointed to this King of the Seven Seas, and said lightly: [Just like just now, if Yarebo was punished by the Judgment Dragon, he would certainly kill evil, but could bystanders know what evil he did? Could bystanders know why he did evil, and for what reason did he embark on the path of evil, causing him to grow into the evil person he is now?]

Hearing this, Yarebo suddenly trembled all over. He suddenly raised his head. The red-haired, rainbow-bearded sea pirate had not had any emotional fluctuations even when facing the Judgment Dragon's sentence, and he was not afraid of death, but now, he stared at Su Zhou in shock.

And Su Zhou made eye contact with him, calmly saying: [Perhaps there are his personal factors involved, but the root of all evil must come from a corrupt world order.]

[The truly correct thing is that whether it is those who pray to the judge, the judge, or the judged, they can all gain something. Even if they are about to be executed in the next moment, the judged should understand what the correct order is, and all those who pray to the judge and the bystanders, in addition to the pleasure of punishment, can also know the sadness in it, and prevent this from happening again as much as possible.]

[The element of judgment is not hatred, but first because of love. Because of love for all good people, one must punish all evil people.]

[Without love for judgment, without love for eliminating evil, it is nothing more than cleaning up garbage. Only judgment with love can be regarded as 'correction,' allowing everyone to understand that this is wrong.]

[Only in this way can it be regarded as taking a step toward the right path.]

Finally, Su Zhou used such a sentence to summarize: [The purpose of judgment is for progress, for correction, for knowing the truth, and for making people better. It is not just set up to kill people, but the result of explaining the truth.]

[This is my Dao regarding the matter of judgment (devouring evil).]

Everyone listened carefully.

Love, judgment, and progress.

At this moment, Yarebo was thinking about his past.

Born by pirates, he was born as a child of the sea, and had no way to choose his future. He was just a tool for his father to control the pirate group.

If possible, could he have chosen not to become a pirate?

Yarebo didn't know, and he didn't regret it. His life as a pirate was full of evil deeds, and he had enjoyed it for a long time. He had long been prepared to be judged and die, so he behaved fairly tough when facing the Judgment Dragon and Su Zhou before… Of course, he was a little scared, but that was all.

However, even if he never regretted it, this great pirate was always confused, wondering whether he, who was deliberately born as a tool by his father and mother, really had the right to choose? Was his so-called lack of regret just because he had no other choice?

He was not born into this world because of love… But even so, his father, Grote, risked being discovered by the gods to notify him to leave this sea area as soon as possible…

This thing called love…

"Damn it, it's too absurd!"

On the other hand, the Boar's captain, Nide, was cursing in his heart: "What the hell is love? If I had the power, I would first marry a good woman and have a few children, and then go back to the mountains to continue hunting. Who cares about love!"

However, even Nide, after cursing for a while, had a complex emotion in his heart: "But damn it… at least the Lord is right about this. If I am judged, I don't want to be struck by lightning without any introduction—at least I have to let those city people know that I rebelled because I couldn't stand their weird way of talking."

"If they knew, maybe they would change their way of speaking. Is this the so-called progress… No, am I worthy? If I were a great pirate, maybe I would have this kind of deterrent power!"

Thinking to the end, Nide himself was confused. He shook his head vigorously: "Forget it, anyway, if possible, I still hope that there are more good people in this world, so that even if I am judged, the punishment I receive will be less."

On the other side, Sarah was confused. Of course, she didn't understand what Su Zhou was talking about, but there was one thing she very much agreed with: "The Lord is indeed loving—he even personally baked fish for me to eat!"

At this time, after explaining his feelings and thoughts, Su Zhou felt the Heavenly Soul in his body boiling.

Closing his eyes, the youth felt the power that was constantly leaping in his soul space, deep in his soul.

In the soul space, above the Wisdom Tree Spirit Soul, the purple-cyan Heavenly Soul illuminated all the darkness, and countless runes and brilliance overflowed from it, and then constantly reorganized and reconstructed according to the will of its master.

Some of its inherent structures were destroyed, but new light filled it, just like as people grow, some old ideas are shattered and new concepts replace their positions.

But all of this was not in vain, because the mistakes made before were precisely the steps paved for moving toward the right path.

Finally, all the leaping light returned to the Heavenly Soul, merging into the corona-like halo. The turbid curse light and the pure wish force shimmered together, forming a spiral-like structure in the Heavenly Soul.

"The progress is more than one-third… The supernatural power reconstruction has completely entered the right track."

Opening his eyes, Su Zhou's eyes were clear. He faintly felt that his perception of curses and wish force was becoming more and more acute. Even the Fire of Sin was becoming easier to control. Su Zhou felt that if he ignited the black and white karmic fire on himself again, he would probably no longer feel that extreme pain, and could completely turn it into a part of his body and soul.

At this moment, after listening to Su Zhou's explanation of his Dao, Eamon, who had been listening all the time, let out a long breath and then smiled.

"My Lord, after listening to you explain your Dao of justice, I can finally be sure that you are the god I want to follow."

"Oh?" Su Zhou looked at the gray-haired priest, and teased with a smile: "Are you only 'finally sure' now? I originally thought you had already approved of me."

"You know, there is another Judgment Dragon in the sky."

Eamon shook his head, responding: "Question, my Lord, this is what you said. I cannot choose the existence I want to follow based on preconceived notions. I must truly understand, understand your teachings, your thoughts, and the path you are going to take, before I can say this."

"And now, I am completely sure that I am not choosing to follow you because you are a 'god.' My Lord, I am choosing to follow you because of your Dao and love!"

Speaking to this point, the sorrow that had been deep in Eamon's eyes gradually dissipated. He closed his eyes peacefully and contentedly.

In the gray-haired priest's mind, the injustice he had encountered in his childhood, the framing by others, being thrown into prison, and his family almost being judged, flashed through his mind.

Because a wandering adjudicator of a Judgment Lord had left hell and saw those merchants who had framed and harmed his family being judged, he naturally admired that god representing judgment.

In the eyes of the child at that time, the Judgment Lord was undoubtedly the embodiment of justice and the right path.

However, was what he admired really that judgment that almost killed his family, but was only reversed at the end?

No… What he admired was actually that adjudicator, the justice manifested in that adjudicator.

That love of pursuing 'better' and 'truth.'

A line of pure cyan light rose from the top of Eamon's head, turning into a long line that went straight into the sky. It was transcendence constructed from pure faith, pure will, and soul.

After decades of precipitation and decades of doubt, the power accumulated in the heart of the old priest, who finally understood his heart, finally ushered in a qualitative change at this moment.

"Advanced!"

"Priest Eamon has advanced!"

Seeing this scene, everyone on the entire Boar widened their eyes. They exclaimed as they looked at the gray-haired priest, and Su Zhou was no exception.

The youth stared at this apostle who had chosen to follow him, his mouth slightly raised, and then he secretly stretched out his hand to protect the other party's advancement.

At this moment, in the midst of the surging clear light, endless elements naturally came from all directions, turning into a surging vortex above Eamon's head. This elemental power, attracted by pure faith and soul, even induced phenomena such as fire rising out of thin air, the atmosphere surging, things becoming wet, and dust condensing, and was constantly purified, purified, and integrated into it by the old man's will.

According to the reincarnation world's cultivation method, these elemental powers will be integrated into his body with the soul power derived from Eamon, so that his soul will be protected by the elements of heaven and earth, and he can directly control the elements of the world with his will.

Eamon naturally knew these things—of course he knew, he had known for decades.

So, soon, as the old priest slowly opened his eyes, the cyan light above his head carried a large amount of pure elemental power back into his body, integrating into his soul inch by inch.

Then, a deep aura spread out from him.

After being trapped in the Revelation stage for decades, he finally broke through today.

Priest Eamon, entered the realm of the Chosen!

Both his body and his expression were much younger. Eamon's face was not excited, but carried a hint of joy. He raised his head and made eye contact with Su Zhou, and Su Zhou nodded with a smile.

"Congratulations, my apostle."

"Your Dao, my Lord," he said reverently.

After that, the people on the Boar came one after another to congratulate Eamon.

"Not bad, Su Zhou. Don't look at how old this old man is. In fact, his heart is very tough and pure."

In the soul space, Su Zhou could even hear Yala's comments: "Moreover, he is a very, very rare 'true believer' among all types of believers! But precisely because he is a true believer, if he walks on a path with confusion in his heart, he will not be able to advance for a long time."

"Yeah… He dares to question me. That's a good thing."

Su Zhou also recognized Eamon's thinking and final approval all the way following him. It was actually an honor for him, this 'god,' to have such a thoughtful believer believe in him, and he was very happy in his heart: "This trip to the reincarnation world, to have such a serious-minded believer recognize and acknowledge my path, is already a big enough gain."

After everyone finished congratulating Eamon, the Boar and the deep-sea submersible had arrived at the near sea of Sunsetglow City's port.

It could be seen that the Sunsetglow City navy, which had seen the pirate flag, was rushing to depart and driving ships to come over.

Su Zhou naturally didn't worry about such trivial matters. He didn't need to come forward at all. Eamon, who had advanced to the Chosen, could handle everything.

"My Lord, what are we going to do next?"

Even after advancing, he was still indifferent and calm. At this time, Eamon realized that the joy that the strength he had worried about for so long could bring him was far less than the happiness of knowing that he was walking on the right path.

At this time, he asked Su Zhou about the next plan in order to prepare for the next action.

"Still going to see the Fire Lord—after knowing so much, I am increasingly interested in what that kid is doing."

Su Zhou just looked into the distance, his eyes reflected the city lights: "Judgment Dragon, Water Soul, pirates, and the order of this world… Elias is really providing me with a lot of surprises."

Saying so, his will locked onto Yarebo, who was kneeling motionless on the deck behind him.

"Coincidentally, I will also bring him a good meeting gift."

Eamon smiled and nodded: "Your will."

The next day.

The fact that the incarnation of the Judgment God was fighting another Judgment God in the skies above the Joyous Sea around Sunsetglow City had spread throughout the Holy Fire Kingdom.

Even beyond the Holy Fire Continent, even the Wind Continent on the other side of the world had priests who learned of this shocking news through divine power scrolls.

Not to mention the pirates, who were already well-informed and had many sources of information.

"What did you say?!"

Raging Sea.

In a bright and noisy volcanic cave, golden-red lava could be seen slowly flowing at the end of the cave, like the pulse of the earth's blood.

Although it was filled with the smell of sulfur, the volcanic cave was cleaned neatly, and even a variety of unusually advanced and precise magical tools that did not seem to belong to the reincarnation world were placed here, forming a small and refined temporary magic array.

"Can you repeat that one more time?"

At this time, in this secret base hidden in a certain pirate's volcanic cave, an unusually shocking voice sounded: "Are you saying that the Judgment Dragon descended and was beaten back by the Judgment God?"

"Yarebo also died because of this… You mean captured?"

"Uh, wait a minute, let me summarize… Because the Judgment Dragon wanted to judge Yarebo, while judging other innocent people at the same time, the Judgment God judged the Judgment Dragon's judgment…"

Saying this, the voice suddenly became confused: "What the hell are you talking about?! I can hardly say the word judgment clearly anymore!"

"Forget it, send over the space's task record and let me see what the hell is going on!"