Adam easily slipped into Shinnō's subconscious domain.
On the turbulent sea of subconsciousness, he followed a faint spiritual circuit and found the deeply hidden island of consciousness.
However, unlike the usual conscious islands, Shinnō's "island of consciousness" was a pitch-black forest.
No, to be more accurate, it wasn't really a "forest," but a massive cloud of constantly roiling, decaying mist, held together by some force, shaped like an island of consciousness.
The "forest" on it looked more like countless twisted, sticky black tentacles.
Millions of black tentacles, like withered branches, stretched and intertwined to form a canopy.
From a distance, it really did look like a dark forest.
"Better be cautious."
Watching this strange scene, Adam dared not rush in recklessly.
After careful thought, he decided to send out a temporary Virtual Persona to scout this eerie black forest first.
A somewhat ethereal figure appeared beside him immediately.
"Thanks for your effort."
Adam nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
Though this was a Virtual Persona "fabricated" by the Spectator Pathway's power using past memories, it was still a part of himself.
The separated Virtual Persona was given no additional emotions, more like a puppet without consciousness or memory.
It nodded stiffly and then strode into the forest.
The rotting, pathogen-like black mist hung over every corner of the island.
The moment the Virtual Persona stepped in, it felt a trembling from the soul's depths, as if being watched by something.
Cold, profound, dark, and sinister.
The air was sticky and damp; the soil beneath felt like rotting flesh, oozing thick juices.
The Virtual Persona frowned slightly, setting multiple mental warnings for itself in advance.
It reached out cautiously to touch the "tree trunk" of this "forest," flowing with viscous liquid, like some kind of limb.
The sensation was very soft. Combined with the complete shielding of perception, the surrounding atmosphere was eerily strange.
The Virtual Persona felt as if it had stepped into the stomach of some unknown being.
Although there was some mental preparation, this level of eerie atmosphere was something the consciousness had never encountered before.
No matter how strange it was, it had no choice but to continue deeper. After all, the purpose of being separated was to help the outside "Adam" eliminate dangers as much as possible.
While thinking this, the Virtual Persona continued to explore further.
The surrounding rotting black mist churned and surged, as if it had sensed the intrusion of a foreign presence. The once silent pitch-black forest suddenly seemed to awaken!
"So soon, it noticed?"
The Virtual Persona frowned slightly. It had already restrained its spiritual energy as much as possible but was still discovered.
Judging by the forest gradually "reviving" all around, the island had already detected the intruder and was about to start moving!
Boom!
The dead silent pitch-black forest seemed alive, pulling roots out of the decayed soil.
Buried deep in that rotten, flesh-like earth, the "roots" were actually limbs resembling sheep's hooves. The surging, rotting black mist suddenly gathered and formed writhing creatures.
Those lush "branches" suddenly turned into sticky, pitch-black tentacles, wildly thrashing about!
One after another, the Virtual Persona's vision soon filled with dense, strange, horrifying, and disgusting twisted monsters!
"This is getting troublesome."
The Virtual Persona felt helpless. It was only a separated "Persona" of its past self and lacked strong abilities.
At most, it was at the level of Sequence Five.
But those disgusting, twisted monsters radiated an oppressive aura that was clearly at least Sequence Four!
"There's no other way."
Staring at the approaching twisted monsters, the Virtual Persona sighed, "I've done all I can. From here on, it's up to the main body."
As the words fell, his consciousness suddenly dissipated.
The 'forest,' having lost its target, returned once again to calm.
Those twisted monsters retreated back to sleep, their roots sinking into the rotting soil, as if nothing had happened.
At this moment, outside the consciousness island, Adam slowly opened his eyes.
"Will blindly diving deeper into the island activate whatever's inside?"
The memory from the Virtual Persona transmitted instantly, and he recognized those 'twisted monsters.'
Most likely, they were the 'blood descendants' of the 'Mother Goddess of Depravity,' or could be called her 'offspring,' beings who inherited part of her power and bloodline.
But the sheer number surprised Adam.
"Strange. How can there be so many 'offspring' residing in Shinnō's consciousness island?"
Adam was puzzled. Shinnō was at most a demigod, having just stepped into Sequence Four.
How could his consciousness island host such a vast number of offspring, all demigods themselves?
No wonder the Virtual Persona couldn't penetrate further.
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose, helplessly saying, "Looks like I have to go in personally."
He had originally planned to send the Virtual Persona to scout, but in the end, he had no choice but to go himself.
"Well, fortunately... I can borrow some power from the 'main body.'"
Adam's lips curled into a slight smile as his form slowly turned transparent in the air, his spiritual presence completely concealed until he vanished entirely.
This way, they could minimize the chance of being detected by those troublesome "offspring."
Adam strode into the consciousness island, his eyes flickering slightly.
"As expected, this doesn't seem like an ordinary consciousness island. It actually feels more like the inside of some living creature!"
At that thought, an outrageous idea suddenly crossed his mind.
"Could it be… I'm really inside the 'Mother Goddess of Depravity'?"
Adam shook his head and immediately deleted the thought from the depths of his mind.
"I can't think recklessly. I need to control my thoughts, or unpredictable things might happen."
"Hm?"
Outside, Uchiha Sogetsu's gaze suddenly sharpened.
"Completely disappeared?"
Yes, just moments ago, a slight tremor stirred in his heart, as if someone was calling out to him. But before the voice could reach him, some force cut it off.
Then, the connection between Adam and his soul was suddenly severed!
"Hehe, hehehe… hehehehehe…"
At that moment, the hypnotized Shinnō's expression twisted in a grotesque spasm, emitting a chilling, eerie laughter.
Uchiha Sogetsu's eyes turned cold and indifferent as he stared at him.
"So, it's here…"
Shinnō's eyes had turned completely pitch black, the whites no longer visible. His neck twisted in a strange way as he stared at him with an unnatural gaze.
"We found you."
"We've found you!"
"Here!"
"Here!"
"He's here!"
"It's Him!"
*******
Support me on my patreon and read upto 20 early chapters.
https://www.patreon.com/c/Unique_Writer