The voice echoed through the stone chamber, surging with momentum, as if coming from high above the heavens. With just one sentence, an invisible pressure descended from the sky, causing Lin Xiao's entire body to creak and groan under the strain.
Before his eyes, the statue of the Holy Emperor gradually cracked. Countless fissures spread across it, and fragments continuously fell from the weapon in its hand with a rustling sound.
Golden light emanated from those cracks, not blinding, yet vast and boundless like an endless ocean, stretching on without end.
Looking again at the weapon in the statue's hand, what had previously been an indistinguishable shape now took on a clear form. It was not Electrolux's staff, but a long halberd, as if it could be hurled forth at any moment.
In Lin Xiao's ears, aside from the sound of his own heartbeat, there was nothing else, as if time and space had frozen in this instant.
The statue before him seemed to come alive in that moment. Though there was no major change in appearance, it now carried the aura of life, surrounded by a unique divine charm.
Lin Xiao could feel an invisible gaze sweep over him, then extend into the distance, pausing briefly somewhere before quickly moving on.
From the initial wariness toward the existence of the "Holy Emperor," to later discovering that what the Holy Emperor possessed was Electrolux's power, and gradually relaxing his guard.
Now, the facts before his eyes told Lin Xiao that his intuition had been correct. What the "Holy Emperor" possessed was not merely Electrolux's power, but something closely linked to the deity high above the heavens.
This terrifying aura was something even a Limit Douluo could not possess. This power had already surpassed soul masters, surpassed the entire world. Moreover, he had already guessed who this deity before him truly was.
His limbs went numb, his body almost unable to move. Lin Xiao felt as though he were adrift in a raging sea. His spiritual power and soul power instinctively surged and churned, yet they only kept him from being swallowed by the waves; he still could not find a firm enough footing to stand on.
"Do you know what wrong you have committed?"
A blurred voice rose from within the Holy Emperor statue, cutting across Lin Xiao's ears like something solid, the sharp aura shaking his body until it went numb.
Lin Xiao slightly lowered his head and opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
The deity within the statue seemed not to wait for Lin Xiao's reply. After a brief pause, it spoke once more.
"On the Douluo Continent, there are countless soul masters. All of humanity only knows how to take, yet gives nothing back to the continent."
"Later came soul tools, which exhaustively mined resources without restraint. The continent beneath your feet is gradually withering away."
"I searched through countless worlds and finally found a place, the Abyss Plane. The beings of that plane know only battle and brutality, without empathy, without knowing what love is."
"Those remaining in the world would only bring disaster. For this reason, I sought every method and finally devised a plan to lure the Abyss here, to pacify the calamity of the myriad worlds and replenish the depletion of the Douluo Continent."
"Now, because of your single mistake, my great undertaking is ruined… Do you know your fault?"
The voice from within the Holy Emperor statue recounted the origins of the Holy Spirit Cult. Though the words were simple and the explanation not entirely clear, Lin Xiao, with his memories from his previous life, still understood many things from it.
On this Douluo Continent, the power of both soul masters and soul beasts came from the heaven-and-earth origin energy. As their cultivations grew higher, the heaven-and-earth origin energy they required also increased.
Moreover, as time passed, soul masters' understanding of martial souls deepened, and higher-level soul masters appeared more frequently.
Coupled with the development of soul tools, the power of the Douluo Continent began to dry up.
Perhaps soul masters today still could not sense it, but in a thousand years, ten thousand years, or even a hundred thousand years, this continent might no longer give birth to any soul masters.
And the Holy Spirit Cult that Lin Xiao belonged to was the key to this deity's solution.
Although in his previous life Lin Xiao did not know the exact details of what would happen ten thousand years later, he had heard some general information. Names like the Golden Dragon King, Silver Dragon King, and Abyss Plane, even without knowing their specifics, were enough to guess what they were just from the names.
The deity before him wanted the Douluo Continent to devour the power of the Abyss Plane to make up for the damage caused by soul masters.
"Know only battle and brutality, without empathy, without knowing what love is." These few short phrases described precisely the situation of that Abyss Plane, and likewise, the situation of the Holy Spirit Cult.
To lure the Abyss Plane to draw near the Douluo Continent required the existence of the Holy Spirit Cult.
Lin Xiao suddenly understood. The "Holy Emperor" worshipped by the Holy Spirit Cult was not merely Electrolux, nor merely the deity now within the statue, but also something from that Abyss Plane.
Zhongli Wu's constant talk of "letting evil soul masters walk in the sunlight" was not merely literal, allowing evil soul masters to appear openly. More importantly, it meant letting the brutality, bloodlust, and selfishness of evil soul masters appear among everyone.
Only in this way, only by having traits on the Douluo Continent similar to those of the Abyss Plane, could it attract that plane to approach, giving the Douluo Continent the chance to devour the Abyss.
The emergence of the Holy Spirit Cult was no accident. Their finding of Electrolux's divine sense fragment was no stroke of luck. All of this was meticulously arranged by a deity.
Thoughts surged in Lin Xiao's mind, his eyes flickering slightly.
In that instant, he realized that Electrolux's power and the countless Spirit Ascension Ceremonies held in this stone chamber were perhaps not the work of some exceptionally talented evil soul master at all, but the handiwork of a deity.
The Holy Spirit Cult could not be eradicated, and evil soul masters likewise could not be eradicated. As long as there was someone who wanted the Douluo Continent to attract the Abyss Plane, that person would not only not stop it but would allow countless negative emotions to run rampant.
Thinking of this, many of Lin Xiao's previous doubts finally began to clear up.
Why, in his original memories, Huo Yuhao had only managed to destroy the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters and had no time to eliminate evil soul masters before being hurriedly brought into the Divine Realm.
Because there was someone who did not want evil soul masters to be completely wiped out. That person hoped evil soul masters would continue to exist, hoped the Holy Spirit Cult would continue to exist, to complete his "great plan spanning ten thousand years."
And this statue, using Electrolux's divine sense fragment to conduct the Spirit Ascension Ceremony, was precisely the "opportunity" this deity had specially prepared for the development of the Holy Spirit Cult.
By absorbing Electrolux's divine sense fragment, he had unintentionally destroyed the foundation of the Holy Spirit Cult and evil soul masters, destroying the foundation of that "ten-thousand-year great plan."
So this was his "fault."
Lin Xiao kept his head lowered, still silent, but in his heart, he had already understood the entire origin of the Holy Spirit Cult.
The deafening voice in his ear had not yet dissipated. The deity within the Holy Emperor statue seemed still to be awaiting his response.
Lin Xiao's eyes lowered slightly, his mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.
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