Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent

Chapter 250: Heart

Question marks seemingly appeared on Zhang Songbai's forehead. "Just six Martial Saints?! Did you know that not long ago, Wang Liancheng was attacked just the same? They had ambushed him with six Martial Saints! The only difference was that they hadn't brought a piece of top-tier astral equipment."

"Wang Liancheng?" Li Pin recalled this seeded King of the Century competitor. "All six of them were Extreme Martial Saints?"

"That's right," Zhang Songbai nodded heavily. "Extreme Martial Saints who had surrounded Wang Liancheng and had almost killed him.

"Fortunately, for some reason, they chose to use a will-based attack first, and ended up being countered by your will, right?"

"It was not a will-based attack. It's one that targets the mental spirit!" replied Li Pin.

"Mental spirit!?" Hearing this, Zhang Songbai shot to his feet. "You're saying... they..."

"I was hypnotized by them for over a second," Li Pin said in a deep voice.

One second! In a battle between Martial Saints, even half a second's delay could be the key to life or death, let alone an entire second!

In other words, if another Martial Saint had been laying in wait within the bushes, hiding, Li Pin might have... already died.

Of course, it was possible that in the face of life and death, his survival instinct would have frantically alerted him, allowing him to break free from the hypnosis.

However... he couldn't wager his life on whether his survival instincts would kick in and forcibly pull him out of his state.

Upon hearing Li Pin's description, Zhang Songbai's face grew solemn. "Hypnosis... They actually hypnotized you? And from a distance too? The rumors... are actually true!?"

"What do you guys know?" Li Pin asked.

He looked at Zhang Songbai, waiting for an explanation.

Zhang Songbai hesitated.

This was information that Li Pin wasn't qualified to access yet, but he was directly involved in this attack.... They couldn't hide this from him.

Zhang Songbai hesitated for a moment before replying, "Have you heard the legend of the Six Divine Rings?"

"The Six Divine Rings?" Li Pin quickly realized what Zhang Songbai was driving at. "These six Martial Saints are qualified to wield the Void Ring!?"

"No," Zhang Songbai replied. "The Six Divine Rings are the most perfect special creations in the world. Even a Master Astral Cultivator isn't qualified to wield them, let alone Martial Saints.

"However, people have managed to find other divine relics besides the Six Divine Rings. Although these relics can't be made into new Divine Rings, they can add all sorts of unbelievable and miraculous abilities to astral equipment!"

Zhang Songbai took a deep breath. "Among these astral equipment, there is a special set made from a divine relic called the Memory Gemstone. It consists of four components, and its function is to gather all the wearers of these astral equipment together in a manner akin to void teleportation across void space! They can then perform a decapitation strike!"

"Four people... transmitting through void space?" mumbled Li Pin.

He felt that this world... was becoming more and more fantastical.

"The Divine Adoration Sect has been searching for divine relics for years, trying to replicate this special set of astral equipment. With it, their top experts will come and go like the wind, becoming nearly impossible to encircle or defeat.

"With this power, they will truly possess the qualifications to make the Six Extremities fear and acknowledge them. It's rumored that the Divine Adoration Sect... succeeded, but also failed..."

Zhang Songbai took a deep breath. "They failed because they didn't truly replicate the special set of astral equipment, but they succeeded... because they accidentally created an astral equipment that can merge people's mental spirit into one." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Merge mental spirit into one?" Li Pin pondered. "Are you saying that my consciousness was suppressed because those Martial Saints merged their mental spirit?"

"That's right." Zhang Songbai said, gathering his thoughts. "This brings us to the core of the Divine Adoration Sect, an evil organization."

He looked at Li Pin: "You've probably heard the theory that starlight contains information, right?"

Li Pin nodded.

"The Divine Adoration Sect is a sect that developed based on this theory. They worship the vast and majestic Astral God and regard the information contained within starlight as divine will. Thus, they fanatically worship and embrace the unreadable information within the starlight."

Zhang Songbai sighed. "In the end, they succeeded."

Li Pin was astonished. "They succeeded?"

"Without a real example, how could the Divine Adoration Sect grow and remain undefeated despite our repeated attacks?" Zhang Songbai gave a bitter smile. "It's because they actually achieved something. They... built a 'Divine Kingdom' and claimed it was a gift from the great Astral God, allowing them to be closer to their true god."

"A Divine Kingdom?"

They have even started using such mystical terms?

"No one knows the true nature of the Divine Kingdom. Many Master and even Legendary Astral Cultivators have studied it. Some say it's because starlight inherently contains information, but that information is too weak and unfocused. When a large number of Astral Cultivators gather and concentrate their pure will to deify the Astral God... the starlight becomes imbued with "divine properties," thereby creating the Divine Kingdom."

Zhang Songbai paused. "Others say that the leader of the Divine Adoration Sect deciphered the information within starlight, receiving feedback and recognition from the Astral God. Thus, he became the legitimate authority within the Astral Cultivator system and was able to establish the Divine Kingdom, spreading the will of the great Astral God...."

He seemed to have thought of something and shook his head. "There are many similar theories, but no Master or Legendary Astral Cultivator has ever truly explained the nature of the Divine Kingdom or debunked this lie."

Li Pin listened to this and seemed to understand something. "So... there are people even in Tianyuan who believe that the Divine Adoration Sect is the legitimate Astral Cultivation system, and they secretly joined it. Is that why the Divine Adoration Sect has never been completely eradicated? Even if Legendary Astral Cultivators suppress them, it won't take long for them to rise again?"

Zhang Songbai answered, "Indeed, someone once suggested recognizing the Divine Adoration Sect as the orthodox religion because the Divine Kingdom can truly sense the Astral God more clearly. However, as the assimilation theory gradually gained acceptance, people realized that many Astral Cultivators can sense the Astral God more clearly through the Divine Kingdom because they chose the path of voluntary assimilation.

"Martial Saints and Astral Cultivators both need to maintain will purity, but isn't faith also a form of pure will? The Divine Kingdom's existence makes use of this power to an extreme."

He glanced at Li Pin. "The Divine Kingdom itself holds vast mental spirit power, and now the Divine Adoration Sect possesses a set of astral equipment that can merge people's mental spirit into one...."

Upon hearing this, Li Pin finally understood why Zhang Songbai was so shocked when Li Pin told him it was a mental spirit attack.

They would have to re-evaluate the threat level of the Divine Adoration Sect now. They could become a grave threat to the Tianyuan Federation if not handled properly.

"Has no one considered destroying the Divine Adoration Sect through breaking the Divine Kingdom?" Li Pin asked.

Zhang Songbai smiled bitterly. "How are we supposed to break through it? To break the Divine Kingdom, you first need to find out where it is, right?

"And to "see" the Divine Kingdom, you must have pure faith in the Astral God. But if you have that level of faith, will you even have the thought of destroying the Divine Kingdom? It's a paradox."

At this point, he felt it inappropriate to stay longer and hurriedly said, "I need to inform the Hall Master of this news. Additionally, the attack on you in our Dragon Gate Hall was our failure, so we will compensate you. We will also conduct a thorough investigation to ensure no Divine Adoration Sect spies are hidden within the hall."

Li Pin nodded. He called for Zhang Yuesheng to send Zhang Songbai off.

After Zhang Songbai left, Li Pin returned to his study and sat, deep in thought.

He recalled that after the Martial Saints had hypnotized him, they didn't immediately attack him. They instead seemed to... have wanted to take him away.

Perhaps they were planning on abducting and brainwashing him.

Or maybe, they had another goal they wanted to achieve....

"They are very strong." A glimmer of light returned to Li Pin's eyes. "I thought Martial Saints would no longer pose a threat to me. But this time, if the Divine Adoration Sect hadn't intended to kill me directly, I might have fallen! So, I must learn from this. Arrogance and complacency are major taboos!"

This was a world where Astral Cultivators dominate, but martial artists could borrow the power of Astral Cultivators to augment their own strength. An Extreme Martial Saint with a piece of top-tier astral equipment could already compete with a High-Class Astral Cultivator. If they were to possess a piece of rare astral equipment, wouldn't they be able to kill High-Class Astral Cultivators?

Although Li Pin was now a tier above Supreme Martial Saints, he was still a step behind High-Class Astral Cultivators.

"The battle of the King of the Century is an unregulated battle. In those times, Martial Saints sought pure mental spirit and elevation of the soul through life-and-death battles. Hence, Martial Saints of past generations would at most use high-grade or even ordinary astral equipment.

"Many wouldn't even use astral equipment at all. They would instead wield simple swords to minimize reliance on external forces. But this time... it's different."

This time, the King of the Century battle has been altered by the introduction of the supreme commander, and it will undoubtedly change the nature of the event.

In the past, Extreme and Supreme Martial Saints only sought to ignite themselves amidst the battle for the King of the Century in order to achieve ultimate transcendence. However, in this unregulated yet subtly governed battlefield, to achieve final victory, they will surely be equipped with top-tier astral equipment!

Some may even take an extra step and consume forbidden drugs to gain immense power.

In this iteration, victory was all that mattered! Victory at all costs! Any means necessary to achieve ultimate victory!

This was the reason why Li Pin's thoughts were restless.

The once self-sacrificial, transcendental battle for progress and evolution had now turned into a life-and-death struggle for victory at all costs.

Even though their path of evolution was to become Astral Cultivators... a path with a predetermined end.

But at the very least, when they stepped onto the battlefield of the King of the Century, their hearts were pure.

While thinking, Li Pin suddenly froze.

He had decided to follow his unique path of evolution and not let any external factors disturb him.

So, why then... would he unintentionally start thinking about the King of the Century battlefield again?

Li Pin sat in his chair, remaining silent for a long time. Then, he spoke, "In the end... I guess I still can't let go of it."