Chapter 410: Chapter 296: Shepherd King’s Weakness
"You’re... Mu Wang!?" Su Ze’s pupils shrank.
"Mu Wang? It’s not wrong for you to call me that. And it’s all thanks to you that my consciousness managed to reawaken within the residual soul of a Sun God."
"You devoured him?" Su Ze frowned, finding it hard to believe.
Although it was only a weak residual soul slumbering in the jade, its strength in life should have surpassed Mu Wang’s.
Besides, Mu Wang hadn’t been in good shape at the time either. He was just a Consciousness Body with parasitic abilities, not even as strong as the residual soul.
’It made no sense. How could the residual soul have been consumed by Mu Wang instead?’
’How pathetic!’
"Not quite. In truth, my consciousness fused with his. Although his Spiritual Position is higher than mine, he had been slumbering for millennia, his consciousness not yet fully awakened. Meanwhile, I’ve been active for decades, constantly repairing my soul."
"Besides, the very reason we are called the Nian Race is because of our Racial Talent, which makes our consciousness incredibly difficult to obliterate..."
"So, when he tried to devour me, I took the initiative and fused with a portion of his consciousness. Now, my consciousness is the dominant one, while his is suppressed."
Su Ze noticed that Mu Wang had become more talkative, with a stronger urge to confide. His tone was also slightly different from before.
’This must be a consequence of fusing with the consciousness of another Thought Race Divine Spirit. The current Mu Wang is no longer the pure Mu Wang; his personality has changed somewhat.’
It was a bit like the soul parasitism Mu Wang had intended to use on Su Ze. The soul still belonged to the Thought Race Divine Spirit, but its consciousness had been usurped.
The difference was, when Mu Wang attempted to parasitize Su Ze, he had wanted to completely devour Su Ze’s consciousness and take his soul for his own.
But this Thought Race Divine Spirit’s Spiritual Position was too high. Mu Wang was incapable of devouring it and could only choose to fuse with it instead.
"You seem quite pleased with yourself," Su Ze said with a smile. It didn’t matter to him which consciousness was in control of the soul within the jade; either way, it was a divine spirit of the Nian Race.
He just wanted to extract some information from it, and it made no difference who he asked.
"Being alive is always better than being dead." Mu Wang ignored Su Ze’s taunt and said, "Perhaps we can make a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Su Ze already had an inkling, but he asked anyway.
If Mu Wang hadn’t mentioned it, he would have brought it up himself. It seemed Mu Wang was in more of a hurry.
"You deliberately used my Consciousness Body and the Pope’s Sub-Soul to feed this residual soul, so you must be after something. I’m sure you’re curious about many things, and I can provide the answers you seek," said Mu Wang.
"Why make things so complicated? You’re a prisoner. What makes you think you’re in any position to negotiate? If you don’t want to die, you’d better just obediently answer my questions."
"Oh, really? Are you sure you can obliterate the soul of a divine spirit? On a low-level civilization like your Blue Star, who could possibly achieve that?" Mu Wang retorted, unafraid.
"How will we know if we don’t try? No one on Blue Star can kill you, but what about someone who came from the cosmos?"
Su Ze was bluffing, subtly alluding to the Mother Tree, though in truth, he had no idea if it actually possessed that kind of power.
Mu Wang sneered. "You mean that giant tree? That would only be possible if its master were revived."
"So you do know a lot. Well, did you know that her master, the divine spirit of the Tree Spirit Race, never actually died? Her reawakening is just a matter of time... If you don’t believe me, I can take you to see for yourself."
Su Ze caught the hidden meaning in Mu Wang’s words. ’It seems I’d need a god-level expert to completely annihilate the Divine Residual Soul in the jade.’
Mu Wang fell silent. After a moment, he said, "But she hasn’t awakened yet, has she? For you, time is a luxury. Believe me, I am not your enemy. We can try to cooperate. It would be beneficial to us both."
Su Ze pretended to ponder this for a few seconds before asking, "What do you want?"
"Find a body for me."
"Alright." Su Ze agreed without a moment’s hesitation.
’He only said to find *a* body,’ Su Ze thought. ’He didn’t specify what *kind* of body.’
"A fifth-evolution Venerable-level body!" Mu Wang added. Clearly, he wasn’t an idiot.
"You give me too much credit," Su Ze said with a shrug.
"You could have your backer make a move. Besides, you’re growing quickly. I imagine it won’t be long before you have the strength to defeat a Venerable Powerhouse yourself."
"Alright. Then you can pay a portion of the price upfront. Once I become a Venerable, I’ll naturally find a body for you."
"Empty words. How can I believe you? Let’s talk again once you’ve found the body I require."
Su Ze had agreed too readily, so of course Mu Wang wouldn’t trust him so easily.
In truth, neither of them expected to settle things in one go. This was a negotiation, which naturally meant starting with an exorbitant price and haggling down.
"So there’s nothing to discuss?" Su Ze made a move to put the jade away.
"Wait!" Mu Wang quickly sent via voice transmission. "We can start with a few smaller deals to try and build trust. What do you think?"
He knew Su Ze was deliberately squeezing him, but he was helpless. He wasn’t nearly as calm as he appeared to be; he couldn’t afford to drag this out.
"Go on. What kind of small deals?" Su Ze looked interested.
"You find a few materials for me. After you do, I’ll answer one of your questions."
"What materials?"
Mu Wang listed several materials in a row.
The materials were all rather obscure and uncommon. Su Ze only recognized one of them, which seemed to be some kind of medicine that worked on the soul.
’Is Mu Wang trying to repair the residual soul?’
"One material, one question," Su Ze said.
