Quest Maker of Soul Land

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***

"Who?" The voice sounded calm but it hid the fury of a storm, perfectly exemplifying the meaning of the— calm before the storm. Ja Sun grew silent for a moment. This barrier was important, and now he knew that it held a consciousness. He could feel it better because his current form was the same, a consciousness. Ja Sun also understood that the barrier is supposed to keep the consciousness rooted and not let its energy get dissipated... although, he would now argue that the role would be taken up by the inscription set up by the body outside of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud. After all, Ja Sun was fully intent on capturing this consciousness for his use.

The taste of divine energy left by the divine intent of the Evil-Eyed Sage Tiger was truly supreme and Ja Sun wanted more to try and breakthrough the shackles of his other spirit bones— the two arm spirit bones.

But for that, he must risk offending the entity and destroying the barrier, only that way he would be able to fully explore everything within the artifact and he had already caused quite the commotion, leaving him little chance to explain himself in a more... respectable manner.

Without responding to the cold inquiry, Ja Sun instead caused the barrier to crumble further.

"Stop this instant!" The voice growled and the water around Ja Sun restricted him instantly. Only for a moment, however. Whoever was sealed within the artifact was strong, no doubt. But it was merely an echo of the divine. Meanwhile, he was alive and could draw all the energy he needed without caring if this form dissipated or not.

The locks of water that pressured his consciousness shattered and the greying corruption of venomous and deathly poison his Death Astral Combatant carried made a large portion of the golden barrier crumble. That's all he needed. Since the lock was made to keep the divine consciousness within the barrier safe, there wouldn't be any point to fashion it in a manner where even if a small portion crumbles, destroying the integrity of the barrier, the other portion remains the same.

This could also be seen through the fact that the barrier was made from an interlocking method of formation. The moment Ja Sun successfully breached into the barrier, the rest of it began to dissipate into a wave of golden glow that shot 'within', and there Ja Sun saw it.

What barrier hid was a husk.

A giant of a man with long blue hair and beard and a burly body which was filled with tattoos similar to the scales of fish over his arms and shoulders.

The 'husk' was the same as Death Astral Combatant in form. Even though both of them looked 'human', the two didn't have any reproductive organs or other distinctive features noted to men. After all, why would forms of consciousness need a dick and the like?

The Husk was soon filled by the golden light that formed the barrier and the form of consciousness instantly came to life with the surrounding water instantly rejecting Ja Sun's existence right from the beginning.

'What kind of control is this?' Ja Sun wondered, silently fighting off the sensation, and continued to look down and spread his mental energy to observe the depths of the artifact.

"I demanded you to stop," the opponent finally looked up slowly.

"I didn't hear you," Ja Sun replied, "And by then, the damage was already done. May I know your name?"

The pure blue eyes of the being held unbound fury yet seeing Ja Sun so calm, it snorted. To his snort, the waves around him finally drilled into the Death Astral Combatant and infected his body with life essence and something else. Something more primal.

"You barge into the resting place of a god and demand one's name?" The figure chuckled dryly, out of anger, of course. He waved his hand and the water around formed the shape of a trident before flying into the Death Astral Combatant and stabbing through his chest.

"Is this enough to appease your anger?" Ja Sun inquired. While they may share senses, the pain into the world of consciousness was nothing to Ja Sun who used to speedrun the Mental Acupuncture Technique as if his life depended on it. Ja Sun knew for a fact that while his foe's attacks proved fatal, they didn't bring pain. However, should Ja Sun attack, the opponent may live, but would go through one of the most painful experiences of their life.

"No, mortal. Who are you?" The figure narrowed his eyes once he realized that the situation was barely normal. A mortal destroying his seal and able to tank through his attacks, albeit weaker, made the 'god' subconsciously curious.

"My name is Qian Xunji—"

"Do not lie, outsider!" The figure hissed and Ja Sun blinked.

'I see... although an echo, the quality is higher than mine. If I was here with my real body, he would have figured out my cores and other techniques such as the Fiery Golden Pupils like that white mist-like figure protecting the Slaughter Egg did... outsider... both of them called me the same. They know... but how? What are the indicators to determine whether a spirit master is of this world or another?'

Seeing Ja Sun's ponderous look and chalking it up to confusion, the figure chuckled, "You cannot lie to me. This is my domain. Hence, you will speak only the truth. Now, mortal, give me your real name, or do you wish to be regarded as 'mortal' until your consciousness collapses?"

"Ka-ul," Ja Sun replied.

"A weird name," the figure clicked his tongue.

"What is yours?" Ja Sun inquired.

"Call me the God of the Sea!"

"No, that is too long," he shook his head, causing the figure to frown.

"Have it your way. You are skilled, for a mortal. Your consciousness suggests that you're already at the peak of the mortal realm. How did you find my, Poseidon's, artifact?"

Instead of correcting Poseidon, Ja Sun simply answered, "I won it in a bet."

The answer made Poseidon frown deeply, "So you mean to say that you were fortunate enough to get it?"

The wording made Ja Sun puzzled as he looked around, "I don't see any fortune lying around."

"Why did you not just use the artifact as it should be used?" Poseidon questioned instead, "The Sea Pearl is a treasure worth spilling the blood of an entire continent yet you tinker with it. Ka-ul, in your madness, you have directly caused a fatal flaw to appear in the arrangements of my real body."

"It seems you're unaware," Ja Sun sighed, eliciting a confused glare from Poseidon, "Speak, what is it?"

"Right now, there are not too many artifacts present and those that remain are worthy of great study. The profession of array formation and smithing are in decline, too, which, I think should be the major contributors to the development of Artifacts. And, I felt something strange about the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud. Oh, this is the current name of the artifact we both are in."

His words made Poseidon blink, "The fact remains you have caused me great damage. Now, you have two options, either let your consciousness end here and die in the real world, or bind with the artifact and bring it to the Sea God's Island. It can be repaired there—"

While Poseidon continued, the space around them trembled and various golden runes appeared within the water itself as they seemed to 'expel' the water around. Poseidon's eyes widened and he moved without hesitation. Thirteen tridents formed around his gigantic body when Ja Sun narrowed his gaze and the Death Astral Combatant dissipated entirely, forming into innumerable thin and sharp needles laced with a fatal poison borne of the concept of death and shot towards Poseidon.

"So it was your plan—"

Before Poseidon could block, five fine runes turned into the strongest of chains and shackled him in an instant and while the tridents could break apart these shackles, it was too late by then.

Ja Sun never planned to kill, neither the Death Astral Combatant could erase this divine consciousness. But Ja Sun only wanted to weaken it and that he did.

The divine blue glow on Poseidon's body retreated and collected over him as his form of consciousness revealed multiple purplish spots that seemed to be spreading slowly.

"You daring mortal!" Poseidon snarled, causing the entire space to tremble but the moment he tried to attack the suppression runes, the divine consciousness realized that the strength embedded within the runes surpassed his own.

"How... can this be?" he frowned deeply, "The main body was a full-fledged god and the energy of a demi-god at the level of rank 99 shouldn't be close to overpowering me... gods cannot surpass rank 100 unless they move on so... a strengthening technique? But the quality of technique that can even strengthen a divine consciousness... must be divine in nature, too. Did that bastard already have an inheritance? Hmm, I didn't sense a presence of a god on him... just what is going on?"

---

*Cough*

*Cough*

Ja Sun entered a fit of coughs as the veins around his head bulged with many already punctured and drenching his face red. It felt like countless needles stabbed into his eyes and brain the moment he destroyed his Death Astral Combatant but all it elicited was a soft grunt. He wasn't around anyone so he didn't need to act to gain pity and lie on Ah Yin's or Dong's laps. Instead, he let his body naturally heal as he diverted his attention to the world of consciousness.

The purplish sky that was made from the breath of the Death Astral Combatant was already converging together while a few cracks were spread on the cauldron itself.

According to his calculations, it will take him four months to get his Life-Death Spirit Cauldron fully repaired with another functional Death Astral Combatant.

"Let's hope that the rewards are worth it," Ja Sun smiled. As long as the benefits surpass the cost, he wouldn't mind the temporary loss of Death Astral Combatant.

"So... that's a god, too. But his divine consciousness was weaker than mine after the enhancement of the Fiery Golden Pupils. Still... it will be hard to communicate with Poseidon peacefully after I have locked him in... let's see, he was low-key hoping for me to bind with the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and enter the Sea God Island. Is there something noteworthy? Well, aside from the obvious hint in the name..."

Ja Sun pondered over his conversation with Poseidon.

He was offered a chance at inheritance in slaughter city but at the time Ja Sun had prioritized over the Slaughter Egg instead. It was only after returning and having a conversation with Bibi Dong where he revealed her past, causing her to reveal about one of the methods of being a God did Ja Sun realize how much of a possibly great opportunity he had lost. But what's done is done.

Aside from inheritance, Ja Sun now knew that his master had another method of becoming a God. He had only hinted at it while he dove into the proper method of cultivation. Aside from a few details, such as laws, Ja Sun already knew most of the information from the tome he had. That's how he knew how to form cores, too.

This Poseidon, in his conversation, gave Ja Sun a clue that there hid an inheritance within the Sea God Island. Chuckling softly, Ja Sun waited for a few seconds as the mission was now considered complete and two rewards soon formed in front of him.

First was a splendid silver staff with a giant orb floating above one of the ends. It was a Spirit Tool, the function of which Ja Sun had yet to find but his main focus was on an ornate tube with a print of a trident on its surface.

The Divine Grace Array!

Ja Sun's breathing sped up momentarily but he soon stored his rewards. It was as he had predicted, strong or not, the existence of Gods by itself created S-ranked missions easily. After all, it wasn't a hard thing to capture Poseidon within the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and if not for exploring the contents of the artifact, Ja Sun wouldn't have lost the Death Astral Combatant.

Of course, one might say that there was no need to set up the former mission and just focus on capturing the god's consciousness. However, Ja Sun definitely wanted to solve the mystery of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and the addition of a quest and the subsequent reward was a welcomed gift.

Exhaling deeply, Ja Sun cleaned up his room and fell into a deep sleep while forming a clone and letting it guard him silently. As of now, Ja Sun had to be a bit more cautious since the lack of Death Astral Combatant will make him just a tiny bit less versatile in his actions.