Mystery: She came from the Chaos Sea

Chapter 160: Spiritual Imprint in the Essence
The moment you fall into the entrance of the abyss is similar to stepping into the spirit world.

But there are significant differences between the abyss and the spiritual world.

The spiritual world transcends the conventional concept of space and has no distinction between up, down, left, and right.

Here, the sense of direction has not completely disappeared, but every breath of air is filled with evil thoughts, eroding the living beings' perception of direction.

"Is this... still the real world?" Amanesis whispered, looking around.

What comes into view is a broken mountain range that looks like jagged teeth. The mountain is full of hideous cracks, as if it will collapse at any time.

Black mist filled the cracks.

Judging by the rules and characteristics of the real world, the spiritual world, and the astral world, after careful experience, Amanesis felt that this place was closer to the real world.

Hermione said, "The Abyss is where the real world and the spirit world merge. The core of this space is the uniqueness of the 'Abyss'."

At this time, Sasriel pulled himself away from Hermione's feet, stretched out his hand, and grabbed a handful of the black mist that filled the surroundings. Wisps of evil thoughts merged into the hearts of Sasriel and Hermione.

She saw a blurry figure holding a sharp blade, stabbing others repeatedly—

This is not a real scene that happens in the real world, but a dark thought deep in the heart of an intelligent life in the real world.

This kind of dark thought will most likely remain hidden in that person's subconscious mind forever and will never become a reality.

There is also a very small probability that this idea will turn from fantasy into reality and evolve into a case in the real world.

Sasriel explained in a low and hoarse voice:
"This continent, originally located in the real world, was dragged to the edge of the spiritual world by the power of these dark emotions, and eventually became the abyss we see today."

At this moment, Hermione raised her head slightly and looked up at the inky sky.

Her gaze penetrated through the layers of darkness, and she "saw" the connection between the inky sky and the mysterious ocean of collective consciousness in the spiritual world.

She saw that the endless negative emotions that had settled at the bottom of the ocean of collective consciousness were the root and foundation of this strange space.

She also saw that the original barrier also covered this world, but desire and evil thoughts were like the omnipresent air, floating in from the boundless universe, penetrating the original barrier and merging with this abyssal space.

In those evil thoughts, Hermione saw all kinds of atrocities that existed in the imagination of different interstellar civilizations.

And among those desires, she caught a unique and familiar scent, the scent of the "Mother Tree of Desire".

Because Amanesis did not possess the power over the mind and corruption, she could not perceive such rich information like Hermione.

But He could sense the presence of a power beyond the True God in the abyss, and He couldn't help but ask Hermione, "Is it the Sephiroth, or the Outer God?"

"Both." Hermione sighed softly and said with emotion, "The Abyss is like a giant sieve...it leaks everywhere. No wonder Tolzner was influenced by 'that person'. No wonder Fabuti and the 'Master of the Dark House' in the Western Continent can communicate through evil thoughts."

After sighing for a few words, Hermione explained to Amanesis:

"The 'Abyss' is essentially the embodiment of the 'dark side of the universe.' It is a distorted space that reflects the evil intentions of all species in the universe."

"Although it is also protected by the original barrier, and although it is also separated from the Western Continent by the Tianzun barrier, preventing the Outer Gods and the source essence from directly descending into the abyss, their power has already seeped in along with these evil thoughts."

Upon hearing this, Amanesis frowned and said, "If that's the case, is it possible to destroy or seal this abyssal space?"

Hermione shook her head and said, "Destruction is impossible. Unless the uniqueness of the Abyss and the essence of the Shadow World are thrown out of the Earth... Otherwise, this abyss located on the Earth cannot be eliminated at all."

"It can't even be sealed completely."

"It's like I can use my psychic authority as a 'Dreamer' to tamper with the collective subconscious, but I can't clear humanity's collective desires and evil thoughts, because these negative emotions are constantly growing."

Hermione looked at the black mist and said:
"Negative emotions, which are born along with life consciousness, are one of the fundamental rules of this universe."

"Even natural mythical creatures, even those of the Old Ones, cannot escape this rule. They also possess self-awareness and various instincts."

After a pause, Hermione chuckled and said:

"The gods of this world don't exist in the purest sense of the word 'conceptual gods'. Rather, they are terrifying beings that use the name 'god' and possess various concepts, symbols, and authority."

"There is no 'divine will' in this world. These gods can be angry, violent, and have all sorts of extreme, crazy emotions and tendencies."

Amanesis was very confused by this and couldn't help asking, "Why is this happening?"

Hermione said, "The root of all this lies in... the original Creator."

“He created the whole world and everything in it.”

"He is the sum of all. He is crazy, yet rational. He is chaotic, yet clear. He creates everything, yet destroys everything. He loves everything, yet hates everything. He possesses the strongest desires, yet is cold and ruthless, unaffected by anything..."

"All living beings born from Him are naturally unable to escape the influence of various emotions."

“However, it is precisely because all things are born from the beginning and all things have divinity that we, living beings, also have the possibility of becoming gods and becoming the Old Ones.”

After explaining to Amanesis what she had deduced from the Sea of Chaos, Hermione turned the topic back to the solution to the Abyss: "Although we cannot destroy or completely seal the Abyss, there are two methods similar to sealing that we can try..."

"One is to help Tolzner become the true god of the Bound One and have him guard the abyss."

"Or, by putting the Angel King or True God of that path, which holds the uniqueness of the 'Abyss', into a dormant state, this would reduce the activity of the Abyssal space."

The "divine evil" that Tolzna lacks and the uniqueness of the "Abyss" are inseparable from the "Demon King" Fabti, and Hermione's goal in coming to the abyss is to find Fabti and his clone, Napolidisli.

Amanesis confirmed: "The ultimate purpose of our coming here is to find Fabuti?"

Hermione nodded and said:

"Let's first try to find high-sequence 'Devils' or 'Whispers' in this abyss. They've lived in the abyss for a long time, and perhaps they'll have news about Fabuti."

As he spoke, Sasriel transformed into two scarlet cloaks, draped behind Hermione and Amanesis respectively, to help them avoid the troubles of being infected by corruption at all times.

……

Western Continent.

The collusion between Napolidisli and Hermione did not stir up a single ripple in the Dark House. It was as if no one paid any attention to these two disciples of the Holy Lord.

However, when Zhou Mu was practicing the scriptures and making some progress, a figure appeared in front of them without any warning.

The person who came was wearing a moon-white robe, with a graceful figure and a beautiful face, yet exuding an air of majesty.

Zhou Mu reacted instantly and said respectfully, "Sect Master."

This person is the current leader of the Sacred Heart Sect.

When Sect Leader Shan heard Zhou Mu's address, she smiled warmly and said, "You are now the Holy Lord's personal disciple. Your status is different from before. You can no longer address me like that. From now on, just call me Sister."

Zhou Mu was slightly startled by this, hesitating for a moment. Just as she hesitated, Napolidisli, standing beside her, a sweet smile on his face, called out crisply, "Sister Shan." Sect Leader Shan's smile widened upon hearing this, and he looked at Napolidisli and replied, "This must be Sister Tian Ruoyao. She's truly charming and lovely, and I feel pity for her."

The two smiled at each other, and the scene was like a pair of red faces complementing each other, but one was a witch from the Demon Cult, and the other was a demon from the abyss. Both were deep-minded and cunning people.

Zhou Mu also changed her address to "Sister Shan."

Sect Master Shan nodded slightly, then his expression became solemn and he said, "I came here to take you to receive the Taoist ordination."

Napolidisli, who was listening, suddenly laughed and said, "So it was Sister Shan who bestowed the ordination on Zhou Mu. Does that mean Zhou Mu is still considered a disciple of the Sacred Heart Sect?"

After swallowing Tian Ruoyao's consciousness, Napolidisli knew that the ordination of newcomers was led by their master or senior disciples.

"Ruoyao misunderstood." Sect Master Shan saw Napoleon's temptation, but she did not get angry and patiently explained:
"It is only because Zhou Mi first laid the foundation of her cultivation in the Sacred Heart Sect that I have the honor of guiding her into the sect."

"You are all now the Holy Lord's direct disciples, and naturally disciples of the Holy Sect. As for your future initiations and promotions, the Holy Lord has made detailed arrangements before his ascension. Follow me to the Bamboo Lodge, and you will learn everything."

After saying that, Sect Leader Shan led the two of them out of the room.

On the way, following Zhou Min's perspective, Hermione saw that this place was very similar to the abyss, and her sense of direction was distorted in the malice that seemed to be real, but Sect Master Shan was not affected at all and led the two of them all the way to a bamboo forest.

"Has the Holy Lord really ascended to heaven?" Napolidisli asked again in the middle of the conversation.

Sect Leader Shan turned slightly and did not answer directly, but simply said, "You guys follow me first."

The three continued to move forward, circling in the bamboo forest. Soon, Hermione saw a shadowy door filled with black mist appearing deep in the bamboo forest ahead.

"This is the place where our Anlu lineage ascended to the Immortal Realm." Sect Master Shan paused and said, "Since ancient times, every Saint Lord, every High Priest, and every chosen servant has entered this place."

"Come closer." Hermione's voice rang in Zhou Mu's heart.

Considering that even if he was the leader of the Shan clan, it would be difficult for the Holy Lord to call him a "fellow Taoist", Zhou Mu followed the instructions of this "original senior" and approached the shadow door cautiously.

Sect Leader Shan stood quietly by and did not say anything to stop them.

Because Zhou Mu lost her way after taking only a few steps.

However, under Hermione's guidance, Zhou Mu was able to continue moving forward.

Seeing this, Sect Leader Shan was slightly surprised, but when she thought that Zhou Mu was the Holy Lord's direct disciple, she must have qualities that she could not understand.

Napolidisli felt a little apprehensive in his heart, apprehensive of this original Taoist friend who said he had "lost all power."

At this moment, a deep and majestic voice suddenly sounded in the bamboo forest, and a tall figure wearing a black battle robe and a black mask stood in front of Zhou Mi:

"Appointed by the Holy Lord as the Hellish General, in charge of the Bamboo Forest, my name is Cai Lei."

Hermione saw the Beyonder characteristic of the "Silent Disciple" in the person in front of her. There were some Beyonder characteristics on the Western Continent, but they were obviously rare, and the characteristic sequence was not high.

Neither Tian Ruoyao nor Sect Master Shan have any extraordinary characteristics.

After blocking Zhou Mu's steps, the Anlu God General did not drive her away. He stood there like a stone statue. It seemed that as long as Zhou Mu did not get closer, he would not provoke the other party to make any new moves.

Standing at this distance, Hermione could already glimpse the "shadow world" inside the Shadow Gate.

In that dark world full of shadows, many demons who were once humans devoured each other, but separated in the blink of an eye.

Most of the demons looked aloof and cruel, but some of them had determined expressions.

Seeing these scenes, a word suddenly emerged in Hermione's mind: sacrifice.

She originally thought that the source substances of the Western Continent were activated and gave birth to their own will, and then bestowed power, which led to the development of various forces on the Western Continent.

However, at this moment, it seems that this is not the case.

At least that's not the case in Anlu.

The "Shadow World" did not give birth to its own will. On the contrary, generations of Holy Lords and Dark House disciples were influencing Him with their own spirits in an almost crazy way.

Just like in myths and legends, where people sacrifice their bodies to refine divine weapons, people like Anlu are actually using their individual spirits to influence the source essence.

Moreover, after generations of inheritance and accumulation, they actually engraved the spiritual imprint of mankind in the source "Shadow World"!
In this way, as long as enough time is spent with the disciples of Dark House, if the "Shadow World" fails to give birth to self-awareness in time and fails to be recovered and contained by the "Mother Goddess of Desire", the source "Shadow World" will really be sacrificed and refined by the disciples of Dark House, and a new consciousness that claims to be "Dark House" will be created.

For a moment, Hermione couldn't help but be amazed by what she saw.

Moreover, Hermione also realized that the Anlu lineage's method of passing on scriptures would subtly "correct" the self-perception of the disciples who received the ordination.

As the rank of each Anlu disciple increases, he or she will continue to move closer to the spiritual will of the original "Lord of Anlu".

In the end, everything they say, do and think will be consistent with the original "Lord of Dark Lu". No wonder every generation of the Holy Lord of Dark Lu will completely abandon his real name and call himself "Lord of Dark Lu".

The lower-ranking Anlu disciples were unaware of this, while the higher-ranking Anlu disciples no longer cared about it.

Hermione did not judge whether this was a humane act.

But she was sure that after many Dark House disciples successfully sacrificed and refined the "Shadow World", if there was another Dark House disciple who received the certificate, if he could do two things at the same time, improving his rank on the one hand and relying on the magic potion system to become a single-path true god on the other, then he would definitely be able to accommodate the source "Shadow World" naturally and become the old "Father of Demons".

In Hermione's eyes, the combination of the ordination system and the potion system is actually a perfect path to the "old days"!

However, this state of the "Shadow World" is not a good thing for Fabuti and Tolzna. Even if they are willing to embark on the system of receiving ordination again and make up for their lessons, after such baptism and changes, it is hard to say whether they can still be considered themselves in the end.

The relationship between Fabuti, Tolzina and "Anlu" is like a weakened version of the relationship between her and "God", Amon or Zhou Mingrui and "Tianzun".

"The ordination system is actually the correct way to the old days..." Hermione sighed in her heart, but she couldn't copy this experience.

Because the "Chaos Sea" is different from the "Shadow World", the spiritual imprint of "God" still exists in the "Chaos Sea".

I just wonder what the other Essences are like? Is it similar to Shadow World?

Hermione recalled the various forces that the "Master of the Dark House" had mentioned to her -

Heaven, monks, underworld, Taoism, Luojiao, Penglai, and Anlu.

There are exactly seven forces, which seem to be able to deal with the seven source elements sealed in the Western Continent.

But Hermione's spirituality and the deduction of the "Sea of Chaos" reminded her that her cognition was biased.

"But what's the difference? Is there a force that doesn't have a corresponding source substance?" Hermione thought to herself. She currently had no clues to correct this deviation.

However, due to her previous contact with Tianshi and Luo, after some analysis and deduction, Hermione concluded that Luojiao corresponds to the "Mother Nest" and Taoism corresponds to the "Wilderness of Knowledge".

The remaining forces fail to correspond one-to-one with the various source substances, but judging from the names of the forces, the underworld is most likely the "River of Eternal Darkness".

(End of this chapter)