Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Sansara Sage Lin Lehan took his time to get his thoughts together before verbalizing them in Nira's audience.

"Those of us who have reached S-Plus-Rank would eventually die because there's no way forward for us after reaching the Saint Rank. The requirements to move forward are too harsh and not something any particular Path can get around.

There's only one way to move forward. And that is to live as many lives as possible through the clones, extract experiences from them and finally combine them together before our 'deadline' approaches.

Of course, we can also take a faith-centric route, become demi-gods and try to become gods to achieve true immortality. However, I never liked that route simply because it is too dependent on others' faith.

A god who has to depend on their followers for their continuous survival is no god in my eyes. The pantheon gods are more or less the same with just less stringent requirements. Only when you reach the status of the Elder God would that curse be lifted from you," Lin spoke as he walked absentmindedly forward.

Nira opened her mouth to speak. But in the end, she hesitated, as if recognizing that she was not as qualified as Lehan to speak on the matter. Thus, the Saint Rank archer chose to remain silent and let Lehan carry on.

"Nira, I ask you, is becoming an Elder God so simple? So many gods are still trying to become Elder Gods, doing all kinds of things trying to generate Origin Force for themselves through their followers. How many of them have succeeded so far? How many of them were forgotten? How many of them experienced "Godfall"?

And how many Elder Gods are still there in existence? And most importantly, how much time will it take for any regular Practitioner to transform from a demi-god to an Elder God?

I'm afraid those questions are too complicated and answers to those questions would certainly be too vague. I'd rather take a less trodden path and become a Faithless Celestial.

For me to achieve that special form of Immortal Ascension, I need to explore many worlds, live many lives, and understand the Attainments offered by various worlds."

"Well, you have Allansia and Echidna that you haven't—" Nira was about to offer her opinion, believing it was what Lin wanted. However, the latter shook his head before cutting her off.

"Anfang, Labh Salem, Echidna, Allansia, and Tel Quasser are like five fingers of the same hand, Nira," Lin Lehan spoke as if he was speaking from experience.

"Although these five worlds are separate from each other, they are all connected in the space-time fabric and there's not much difference between them when we consider the kind of Attainments they have to offer.

This is because the Worldly Laws of all these five worlds are more or less the same. So exploring these five worlds would not get me anywhere. I need to look beyond these penta-worlds and see a broader picture that is the boundless cosmos."

"So you want to get that artifact so that you could continue to experiment outside those five worlds?" Nira asked, finally understanding Lehan's motives.

"Indeed," Sansara Sage nodded before speaking further.

"Only 'that' peculiar Elder Seed Artifact can allow me to get what I want, see what I want to see, explore what I want to explore. I'm a researcher at heart and this boundless cosmos has so many mysteries hidden within it. How can I get to the bottom of things without achieving an Immortality that can't be snatched away from me?

So I don't care about the witches' heritage. I don't care if everyone in Labh Salem or some other world decides to target me after I obtain that artifact from their clutches.

And I could care less about what happens to me or the others after I see my plan coming to fruition. All of that can be worked out if and when I get where I want to get.

I'm not some risk-taking junkie, mind you. And I also don't want to mess with anyone just to have some fun. I'm not really criticizing those who take the faith-centric route as well.

However, I'll create my own Path without having to depend on others. I'd rather take these risks now than cry about a missed opportunity at the end of my lifespan," Lehan spoke his mind, not speaking any further.

Lin Lehan was always clear on his goals even before he left Anfang. He had developed Sansara World 1.0 and 2.0 to serve as ideal platforms on which stable Dimensional Gates could be created.

The Sansara Sage had created special space-element runes to serve as spatial cords for his exploration. And he had started researching souls after realizing the fact that physically entering the worlds would not always be possible outside the penta-worlds.

Just like Eren, he had started to like the idea of demons' way of exploring the myriad worlds in the boundless cosmos. However, Lehan wanted to have it both ways and not damage his soul in the process as well. Because he thought that it would be counterproductive.

The more Sansara Sage researched about the mysteries hidden within the souls, the more he realized how pitiful and lacking his research was. He felt like his time was not well utilized in doing these experiments.

Thus, he started researching various clone techniques. All so that he could delegate some of those tasks to them. Later on, he found out that the better a clone was the better it would be for him to combine the experiences gained by them. Therefore, he started investing more of his time and research in obtaining better variants of the clone techniques.

He also realized that soul-bound travels could help him get myriad experiences. They were his best shot at exploring myriad realms to gain myriad benefits. All of it was interconnected.

So to deepen his concepts on the soul, he started creating artificial children and gave them a singular task– to cultivate a soul for themselves. He wanted to see if he could make another soul that was just like him. A true clone of his soul.

Sansara Sage's ultimate goal was to break the cycle of Samsara and obtain what lies beyond it– an Immortality that can't be taken away under any condition. And he started working towards his goal from the very early stage of his life.

***

Nira also didn't say anything after she heard Lehan's reasons to take such drastic steps.

Even though she had not achieved a Perfect Sainthood like Lehan, Nira could also relate to his situation because she too was in the Saint Rank. As such, she too felt that the Path ahead was bleak and feared that there was no way forward for her.

And just like Lehan, she too didn't want to take a pantheon's help and become a demi-god only to be bound by the pantheon's rules. In her eyes, the so-called demi-gods were nothing but glorified henchmen for the Immortals, who in turn were bound by their own divinity.

Thus, Nira felt like she was caught between a rock and a hard place.

She didn't want to participate in the stealing of the Elder Seed Artifact from the Witch Association. However, she also didn't want to be left behind by Lehan if and when he succeeds in obtaining the said artifact.

In the end, Nira smiled mirthlessly before thinking to herself.

"First of all, who even thinks of stealing the witches' heritage while staying in Labh Salem?"

***

"Eren!"

Shallot, the Elder Seed Artifact Spirit, rose and assisted Eren as he began coughing. With his face red like tomato, the butcher looked like an elderly mortal on the verge of succumbing to a fatal illness.