Chapter 206: Divine Sin
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
“Endless reincarnation forms a cycle of life and death.”
If souls were the foundation of this world, then reincarnation was its most basic precept. The living were the living while the dead would enter the cycle of reincarnation to reinvigorate this world.
That was why it was a huge taboo to create a life that wouldn’t enter the cycle of reincarnation; don’t even mention personally breaking the cycle of reincarnation or making the dead come alive again. That was why I had never heard of anything related to resurrection magic in all the years I have been around—not even the basic idea of how it could be done.
No matter how ambitious and arrogant Emperor Yongye was back in the day, even he knew that there were some areas he must tread with caution. In the end, he only broke the taboo regarding Lisa, which still caused Ayer to come looking for him.
Afterwards, through some idle chatter, I had learned that Ayer’s main Divine Obligation was to protect the boundary between life and death and to maintain the natural cycle of reincarnation. Pulling a newly-dead soul that just entered the cycle doubtlessly triggered his limits, and when you add on the fact that the entire River Styx was part of his Divine Domain, I was basically committing armed robbery right in front of a police station—he absolutely couldn’t ignore me.
Don’t even mention the River Styx; even in the mortal plane, anyone who dared break certain taboos would end up mysteriously dying. However, this was a different place, and the True Gods weren’t omniscient. There were always places that even they couldn’t peer into.
“Souls have the cycle of reincarnation, and the physical elements making up the world also need to be cycled. This world is composed of the four basic elements of earth, wind, water, and fire. The Elemental Planes are the source of each basic element, and they are also the resource warehouses for replenishing the basic elements in this world. But, the natural laws of the Elemental Planes are too simplistic. Due to the overload of only one particular element and the lack of natural laws, these planes could even reject the Divine Domains of True Gods, turning into a forbidden zone for True Gods where even they couldn’t peek into. Hehe, back in the day, a few youngsters even almost managed to successfully fool me.”
I recalled that those were Ayer’s words. He basically said everything but “if you want to do something forbidden, then go to the Elemental Planes.” This was basically no different from a policeman teaching a criminal how to beat the system, so how could I possibly miss his meaning?
Of course, if Ayer wanted to stop me, he could still stop me since he was never an ordinary True God to begin with. In fact, he had found out about this vulnerability in the system after someone else discovered it first and then perished by Ayer’s hands.
But of course, in such a situation, Ayer could choose whether to interfere or not. And if I was the one breaking the taboos, he could just pretend to not see anything.
What was I about to do? One would know simply by seeing the shivering cat before me, which seemed to be on the brink of death.
The black cat was curled up into a ball and her watery eyes were filled with tears—it was as if she was a normal housecat about to be forced to take a shower, using the look in her eyes to request her master to spare her.
“Um, is it really necessary?”
“What a waste of time! What do you think? I’ve never seen you afraid before in all these years, and isn’t this your dream? You’re getting scared at such a junction?”
That silly cat took a deep breath as her pupils suddenly dilated before expanding again, and her cat ears finally stopped shivering.
“Come, I’m not afraid!”
I was still hesitating, but not because of whether I should begin this experiment or not. It was no matter if Harloys agreed or not as I had long since planned this experiment anyways; instead, I was hesitating about whether or not to tell her, “Your ears have indeed stopped trembling, but your tail keeps thrashing about, betraying your thoughts!”
“Cough, your tail.”
“Ah!”
Harloys exclaimed at this and instantly clutched her tail with her claws, but even holding her tail tightly didn’t stop it from twitching as if she had a cramp. After a short period of silence and awkwardness, Harloys grit her teeth and transformed into a blonde loli.
“…Your cat ears are still there.”
“Ah!” This was the first time I had ever seen Harloys acting so panicked.
“…Humans don’t have long, black cat tails.”
Harloys continued panicking.
“…Nor do humans grow cat whiskers.”
“Can you just finish saying everything at once! Is it that fun to tease me?”
“Teasing a cat should be done over a series of times—oh right, I just recorded the earlier scene with a memory crystal. You were quite cute, and I’ll appreciate it slowly in the future when I have free time… Hey, hey, what’s with your claws? Are you intending to kill your master?”
“I’m cleaning out my sect of traitorous disciples! Take this! Vicious tiger coming down the mountain!”
“Vicious tiger? Haha! More like a cute cat.”
Alright, after this was the typical playfighting. At the very least, the playfighting helped her finally relax. It was only natural that she would be scared to such an extent. If anything went wrong with this experiment, she would definitely end up having her soul destroyed, forever losing the chance to be reincarnated.
From a certain standpoint, the phrase that the older one got, the more one was afraid of death was quite correct. Both Harloys and I still had too many unresolved regrets, so neither of us wanted to die right here and now.
“Perhaps your current physical body’s imitation sensory mechanisms aren’t bad, but it’s different from the real five senses. And while the cells of Greed can indeed continuously copy and imitate the metabolism of a normal life, it’s just that—simple copying. It can only imitate and not give you the true qualities of the living, and nor can it truly subtly recreate a normal life’s maturity and growth. This means that it’s difficult for you to truly become stronger from the foundation. There’s nothing that can truly replace living, continuously growing cells that have endless energy and potential. You’ve probably already forgotten the feeling of becoming stronger through cultivation. The feeling of breathing to awaken your body and have magic course through your veins can never replace that feeling of cultivation. If you want to continue getting stronger—no, if we want to continue getting stronger, this is unavoidable. Besides, would I ever do you wrong?”
Okay, I instantly knew that I said something bad. The previous words had moved her significantly, and she had calmed down already, but the final sentence was obviously unnecessary.
“…You dare say such a thing? How many times have you wronged me?”
“At the very least, we’re in the same boat now. You’re currently my magical pet, and you growing stronger means me growing stronger. If you die, my soul will be greatly weakened and will lose a huge piece. Do you think I would wrong myself?”
Okay, I instantly knew that I said something bad again. Her cat tail and cat ears instantly reappeared, and even her blonde hair that reached her waist was all standing up on end. It was as if the cat Banshee Queen was so angered that all her hair stood up just like a real cat.
“…I’m pretty sure you’ve wronged yourself numerous times as well! Hey, does anyone ever try coaxing others like how you do? It’s even harder to feel assured now.”
I only shrugged and didn’t explain myself.
Neither of us was a novice greenhorn. Sometimes we just needed to complain a little, but we still knew what needed to be done. Harloys soon calmed down again, at the same time as the arrival of the other participant for this experiment. This well-prepared yet unreasonable experiment was now ready to begin.
“Shadow!”
I felt many things as I looked at this twisted Shadow.
From the very start, the Frigid Nightmare “Shadow” was no ordinary Frigid Nightmare. After hatching through an abnormal contract, it was cut off from its host’s soul connection and was left by itself for about three hundred years, like a baby that was separated from its mother’s nourishment before finally becoming a “dead egg.”
It was no wonder that the Frigid Nightmares were never able to hatch it since the dead egg was already dead. How could it possibly be hatched using ordinary methods? However, I was an undead, and I even used to be the top-level existence of undead magic—a lich…
I’ll skip the process as the awakening procedure isn’t suitable for seeing the light of day. In the end, I received an unexpected product—a half-living, half-dead ethereal Frigid Nightmare.
He was living. As an elemental lifeform, his physical body contained his will and soul, and he was just born, so of course he was living.
He was also dead. He had died long ago before hatching, and the only way he could move about in this world was through the power of necromancy magic controlling his incomplete body.
“Frigid Nightmares are a mix between elemental life and soul spirits to begin with, and when you add undead magic and a piece of my soul into the mix, the final product would be anyone’s guess. If you had to categorize it, you could only describe it as a dead living creature.”
The awakened Shadow was abnormally dangerous. His true power was completely uncalculatable using ranks; he both existed in this world and didn’t exist in this world. Apart from area-of-effect attacks that specifically targeted souls, no other attack would even affect him. He could consume souls, but it was unknown what he would transform into if he obtained them.
“…His very existence is something unexplainable by the tenets of magic. ‘Shadow’ is actually an existence that broke the cycle of reincarnation, and I somewhat understand why it’s taboo now. This kind of existence if far too dangerous. He instinctually desires to fill the hole in his soul and devour all life. If it weren’t for the fact that I hatched him and he listens to me due to his leftover instinct as a Frigid Nightmare, perhaps I would be the first one to be devoured by him.”
At first, I had intended to use divine power to help nourish him so he could completely evolve, but in the end, it only made the situation worse. He indeed received nourishment from Wumianzhe’s divine power, but his evolution had instead developed in the worst possible way.
“An existence that shouldn’t exist and has unexpected divine power—a Divine Sin! Damn it! I should have expected that Shadow was actually a Divine Sin that hadn’t finished evolving!”
This was the worst possible change of all. Divine Sins were a type of existence feared even by the Gods, and they naturally hated this world. I created his soul back when I was in the midst of despair, hatred, and anger, while divine power and the Frigid Nightmare egg gave him a physical body. As long as he was properly born, he would definitely cause a massive catastrophe for the entire world.
What was fortunate was that he still hadn’t developed any intelligence. He merely instinctively desired the destruction of all things, and I could still temporarily suppress him, but if I ever let my guard slip… something even more devastating than a war involving the Gods would likely occur.
But, to completely seal him away seemed like a waste, which was how I came up with the idea for this experiment.
“If Shadow is a dead living creature, then Harloys the Banshee Queen who transformed into Greed is basically a living dead creature. If the two of them can combine and mutually compensate for each other’s lacking areas, perhaps they’d be able to twist the cycle of reincarnation and have the dead become the living without undergoing reincarnation!”
In theory, this was workable. No matter how twisted he became, Shadow was still a product of my soul, and Harloys was my magical pet that had a contract with my soul. Shadow was a living creature without a sense of will or a proper physical body, while Harloys was a dead person who still had life and a physical body. With me acting as the catalyst for the two of them in helping adjust their soul wavelengths to be identical, I would help them combine using the same logic as how God’s Descent worked.
And so, that was what happened before me.
“God’s Descent! Shadow, descend upon Harloys!”
A light shot into the blonde-haired girl’s body. Soon, the twisted light completely vanished, and then Harloys’ entire body transformed into a twisted ethereal shadow that kept flashing and changing form.
Her entire body hen transformed into a huge pillar of light that shot into the clouds. The tremendous divine energy in this area made it impossible to stay.
“If everything is successful, Harloys will receive a life and physical body, transforming into a divine life. She might even receive some of the Divine Sin’s power if she’s lucky. And if she combines with me afterward as my magical pet… I seem to have broken every taboo all at once; hopefully, Ayer won’t mind too much.”
Harloys and Shadow’s synchronization would take quite a while, so I started focusing on the other work ahead of me. In this Earth Elemental Plane, enemies truly were everywhere, so any loosening of vigilance could result in disaster.
“Where’s Beifeng? Why hasn’t he returned yet?”
As a hunter, scouting was basically his class’s natural talent. Ever since we set up camp, I had him scout all around us, and he happily left for the task.
“He’s back and is just crouching over there. He seems to be feeling downcast.” Reyne pointed at the half-dragon who was currently curled up into a ball and clutching his legs. That bastard had even curled his tail into the ball.
At seeing this, I was surprised for a moment before I laughed out loud.
“Eh? Do you know what’s going on? This is the first time I’ve ever seen Beifeng like this.”
“Hehe, when we were coming here, I was afraid that bastard would refuse to come, so I told him that we were going to the Earth Elemental Plane where the creatures would be wondrously strange and the likes of which he’s never seen before. He happily agreed upon hearing that and left those centaurs behind.”
Reyne was surprised for a moment to hear this from me before coming to a sudden realization.
“So you fooled him into coming here? No wonder he’s so depressed.”
“Hmph, I didn’t lie to him one bit. This is the Earth Elemental Plane, after all. Those Earth Elemental creatures are indeed strange and wondrous; it’s his fault for not asking clearly. He was getting too close to those centaurs and was getting involved in some scandals; it is a good opportunity for him to get away and calm down for a few days.”
“Is this your so-called ‘truthful lying?’ It’s as amazing as I expected.”
“Haha, but of course.”
I laughed, smug in satisfaction, as Reyne seemed to learn much from me. She even took out a small notebook and noted this down while Adam behind us sneered at the sight.
“Yesterday, he was still complaining about how his own apprentice wronged him and how he shot himself in the foot. From how I see it, this will just be the same. Margaret, how about we have a little bet?”
“I refuse to bet. Roland is one hundred percent going to shoot himself in the foot again. He’s a professional at doing so. If there’s no doubt about it, how could we possibly bet?”
I decided to ignore the loud “discussion” behind my back, simply walking over to Beifeng. I decided to give him some encouragement since we still needed him to work for us.
But right when I reached his side, I heard him muttering to himself.
“…Even though their appearances are rather attractive, there are no holes! What should I do without any holes…”
*Ptui!* Right then and there I spat out all my saliva. This bastard even found elemental creatures attractive! He was completely unworthy of my pity.
“Cough—cough.” I softly coughed twice and had already mentally prepared my next words, which would be “true love is limitless, so this is no good. Beifeng, what happened to your true love?” in order to tease him.
But, he suddenly stood up, lifted his arms, and pointed his middle fingers at the dark-gray sky.
“Damned heavens! You think this can stop me? Who cares if there are no holes?! There’s plenty of people that create holes when there are none to begin with! True love is limitless; true love is undefeatable! Ahhh!”
And then that half-dragon’s depression instantly cleared up. He was filled with the will to battle as he rushed out while I remained there in a state of shock.
*Boom!*
But before he took many steps, a bolt of thunder crashed down on him, causing him to collapse, burnt to a black crisp.
I looked towards Margaret and Adam, thinking that they couldn’t stand this anymore and cast a spell on Beifeng.
However, everyone shook their heads, and even Camdian made an exclamation of astonishment. “There was no gathering of the thunder element at all; it was a pure natural lightning strike. A lightning strike actually appeared in the Earth Elemental Plane? Is this the legendary heavenly tribulation? This is my first time witnessing it!”
The natural power of thunder was of course far stronger than anything a human mage could muster up, but the burnt half-dragon didn’t surrender as he struggled to crawl up again and continued pointing his middle finger at the sky.
“Damned heavens! You shall never stop me from my true love!”
*Boom!*
As Beifeng roared out in anger, he actually managed to agilely tumble on the ground and dodge a new lightning strike before running off into the distance.
*Boom!*
“Ah!”
*Boom!*
“Ah!”
That burnt-black warrior of true love was now emitting the tasty aroma of cooked meat as he stubbornly crawled off into the distance…
“…True love is unstoppable!”
*Boom!*
“Ah!”
It seemed this was going to be a long ongoing battle about true love, or perhaps we wouldn’t need to go hunting for lunch today…