Chapter 969 Locating the treasure
Zatiel managed to silently infiltrate the Ice-Fire World using the Outlandish Beasts of the Emptiness as a cover, but he was surprised when he saw that fist of fire and ice claw.
He could feel that the power in the hand and claw had yet to reach the level of Omnipotence. Still, the attackers were able to use the force of the world to a level that surpassed the abilities of Lords of Emptiness, granting them a battle power that could threaten Middle Stage life forms.
'The Emptiness is truly full of danger. Only those at the Late Stage can move through it with total freedom.'
The Samsara Thearch was deeply aware of the difference between a true Late Stage and someone like him that could only use the power of Reality Override for a few seconds.
Not wanting to take unnecessary risk, Zatiel made sure to cloak his presence to the point that no one beneath the peak of the Initial Stage could see him, even if he was standing right in front of them.
Using his consciousness to analyze and inspect the Ice-Fire World would have been great and helped him in his task, but he was sure that would have blown up his cover right away.
The Samsara Thearch first went to the frozen side of the world, and when he reached there, a sense of shock appeared in his eyes since he felt cold.
Not even Omega Laws that use the Law of Ice as their core could affect his internal temperature by a single degree, but Zatiel felt a sense of cold as soon as he reached the frozen side of the world.
If the cold could affect the Samsara Thearch, it should be powerful enough to freeze Laws and Concepts, making life impossible. Yet, he saw all sorts of beasts living in it.
Of course, the beast had bodies made of ice, but that did not mean they were invulnerable to coldness. It would make sense if they were simple constructs, but Zatiel could see their souls, and they were built in such a unique way that they could endure a cold capable of freezing spiritual particles.
The Samsara Thearch analyzed the beasts and were truly marvelous life forms. It was hard to determine their cultivation since none of them followed the Law Path or Concept Path, instead just increasing the amount of energy inside their bodies, similar to Myriad's path.
'Even the weakest of the beasts are at the level of Rank 4, with a soul force that matched that physical strength, yet their behavior is similar to that of wild animals. Herbivores consume the ice on the ground, and carnivores devour them.
They acted according to their nature, without malice or hate, living life as part of a perfect ecosystem.'
Zatiel was truly surprised by the behavior of all the life forms in the ice part of the world. Even those at Rank 7, 8, and 9 act no different than the rest of the animals, living their life as part of the world and fulfilling their role in the ecosystem.
Usually, as life grows stronger, they would seek to evolve beyond their nature, breaking free of any predisposed path left for them. The idea that a Rank 9 life form would live in a system where it would sooner or later be devoured by someone higher in the food chain was preposterous, but it was happening right here.
The Samara Thearch flew across the frozen part of the world for several weeks and found that the ecosystem path extended through every corner except for one place.
There was a large mountain range with peaks so high that some nearly emerged from the world's sky, and none of the beasts dared to get anywhere near it. The world's energy was incredibly dense in that area, and even the Samsara Thearch would have to use his power to shield his body and soul from the cold.
What truly drew Zatiel's attention was that, unlike the state of the energy in other parts of the world, he felt there was a powerful cosmic force guiding it in that zone, meaning one thing.
'Whatever resides inside that place has a Fourth Realm force under its control and a very powerful one. I can not say whether it is a Truth of Eternal Flame without a closer look.'
Although the Samsara Thearch was curious, he did not go into the mountain range. His journey into this place was to find the treasure that could work as the core for a Fourth Realm's weapon, not to fight against an unknown enemy.
After searching across the cold part of the world and not finding what he was looking for, Zatiel turned his eyes to the fiery inferno that was the other part of the Ice-Fire World.
The Samsara Thearch reached the fire zone in a few hours, and his body began to sweat due to the overwhelming heat. It was a temperature so high that even the core of most suns could not match it, yet it did nothing to the life forms that lived in it.
Unlike the perfect ecosystem of the freezing part of the world he had seen, what he experienced now was the complete opposite.
Those that populated the blazing side of the world were not animals but humanoids, yet they followed the same path, using the world's energy to strengthen their flesh and souls.
The similarities did not end there since, despite their humanoid appearance, they acted without much wisdom and in a very predictable pattern. The population was divided into countless small kingdoms, with the strong devouring the weak.
It was easy to measure the strength of the fire humanoids since the stronger they were, the more arms they would have, with those at Rank 9 having nine arms.
Zatiel began to explore the blazing side of the world in search of the treasure, and while he did it, he analyzed the behavior of the fire humanoids.
Despite their warmongering nature and the fact they killed everything in their sight during a battle, Zatiel felt no rage, anger, or cruelty in their hearts.
It became clear to the fire humanoids the concept of murder had no meaning. In that sense, they were similar to the animals in the freezing part of the world, who felt no pleasure or remorse after killing someone since that was just the order of things.
The Samsara Thearch did not intervene in the wars that spread across the entirety of the blazing part of the world. Although he had a powerful sense of justice, taking the treasure that formed the world could lead to catastrophic damage.
He was not so hypocritical as to tell them to change their way of seeing the world just to break it apart the next moment. His actions could lead to the death of an innocent, and he was ready to accept the hatred and responsibility for that.
After searching through every part of the blazing side of the world, he once again found an area where the energy acted under the influence of a Fourth Realm's force.
It was not a mountain range this time, but a massive castle that could compare in size to one of the Daybreak Universe's Sacred Mountains.
Zatiel stared at it for a long time, and his eyes narrowed when he realized only one life form was inside it. He did not approach it, nor did he send his consciousness into it since that would alert whoever was inside.
After finishing the blazing part of the Ice-Fire World, Zatiel could not help but frown since he found no clue about the treasure either.
'Could it be that this place really emerged due to random chance?'
The Samsara Thearch knew that should not be a possibility, but he could not find the origin of this world on either side of it. He was ready to use Omnipotence to figure out the answer when a flash of enlightenment appeared in his eyes.
'I made a mistake. I was looking at each side of it when I should have examined why the fire and ice could reach such a flawless harmony, with none overwhelming the other despite billions of years of what should have been endless clashes.'
Zatiel flew to the center of the world, where the fire and ice clashed. The opposing forces were in a state of permanent contact, but there were no clashes between them despite their nature.
The Samsara Eye began to glow as its power reached an extreme, allowing Zatiel to go beyond the physical realm, and then a sense of amazement assaulted his heart.
Trillion upon trillions of runes appeared in his sight, diving the flames and ice flawlessly. That runic formation did not use brute power to stop the forces, instead taking the energy of both to strengthen itself and allow harmony to exist.
The treasure that gave birth to the Ice-Fire World was not in the blazing or cold side of it but in its middle line.
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