The tribulation thunder blew the shadow into pieces right before Merle's eyes, while also flinging him into the sand tens of kilometers away with its violent force.
Merle's head was a mass of swirling information. He sifted through it as fast as he could, trying to find what he needed among this haystack of knowledge.
What he learned pissed him off to no end.
He discovered that he was unable to merge with his own kind: humans. This was part of the restriction of laws.
He was also unable to merge the strength of the dead cultivators that were two levels higher than he was. And there was more still; if he did not kill the creature himself, he could not merge with it either. These were the restrictions of the Universe Laws applied to the Original Law.
The cultivation level of Merle's soul was only at the top level of the Domain God Realm, which was on par with the cultivation level of Darren's soul.
"Damn it!"
He was ticked off. There were too many restrictions on his Merging Force. It was incredibly frustrating.
He had been lucky, however, to have survived. The tribulation thunder was not that powerful and his physical strength was far more powerful than that of the Domain God Realm cultivators.
He picked himself up from the sand and absorbed the god's power to heal the damage he had taken.
It was now three months later, and his body had recovered. He had calmed himself a whole lot in the past three months. Since he was restricted from merging with humans, he would choose other creatures instead.
"The fiend race," he murmured, only to himself.
Apart from humans, the fiend race was the most common species in the world, and their masters were no weaker than any of the human masters.
It seemed clear that his next target should then be the fiend race.
There was still one more restriction; until he was strong enough, he could only merge one race. Once he made his decision on the fiend race, it would be impossible to switch to another. He would have to wait until he reached the Deputy God Realm to be able to merge with other living creatures other than the fiend race.
He made his mind up and headed straight for the fiend race's borders to try his luck. He then remembered his orders from Darren; he had to find and protect Elsa. He could not disobey and had to make for the Blood Cloud Region first.
From Darren's memories he learned that the guards of the Blood Cloud Region had taken her away. With this in mind, he knew exactly how to find her.
Whoosh!
Before anything else, he rushed back to the tavern to buy more wine in order to strengthen his meridians before he set off.
At the same time, the Rule Soul Avatar and Jenifer arrived at the Ancestral Land of the territory of the human race.
The moment they set foot in the huge square, countless god's sense came to the Rule Soul Avatar.
"He's back."
"It's him!"
His ears overflowed with people's marvels at his presence.
It was not long before a guard in a black robe landed beside the Rule soul Avatar.
"No one is allowed to enter the Ancestral Land without summon. Stop right there!" yelled the guard in the black robe sternly.
"I have something to ask," the Rule Soul Avatar said plain and calmly.
"Who do you wish to see?" the guard asked in an annoyed response.
"The ancestor."
The ancestor of the human race was the highest ranked leader in this Ancestral Land and of the entire human race.
"How dare you! You'd better leave now before I kill you for trespassing on the Ancestral Land," growled the guard, an intense killing intent rising around him.
"Let him in,"
said an old voice into the guard's ears.
He was astounded. He had never expected the ancestor to communicate with him through his spiritual sense. He felt as if he was dreaming. He had been guarding the Ancestral Land for more than a million years and as far as he could remember, the ancestor only ever spoke when Braxton had come to visit.
The second time he spoke was when Darren visited the Primitive Wilderness for the first time. This was the third and for Darren's sake once more. This was highly unusual.
The guard could not understand why the ancestor would attribute such importance to someone like him.
After the ancestor's message to him, he didn't dare stop them and motioned for the Rule Soul Avatar and Jenifer to go on inside.
"What is it you wish to know?"
"To find my real body's wife and check whether she's safe or not," the Rule Soul Avatar replied.
"Hee hee, I have a question to ask, and you must answer it honestly," Jenifer asked innocently, fixing her eyes on him. He nodded his head in agreement.
"You're Darren's avatar. So, don't you inherit his affection for Elsa as well? Don't you think of her as your wife?" she asked, her mind all abuzz with curiosity and intrigue.
"No, I did not. I only inherit his cultivation base of rule and his analyzing ability. None of his emotions," the Rule Soul Avatar answered flatly and honestly.
"Oh, that's good, good for you," Jenifer said, smiling on the inside. A weight had been lifted from her mind. "Let's go to Elsa," she continued.
The two of them were headed for the Blood Cloud Region too.
In the Tussle Region, it had been half a month since the Gambling King had left in anger.
Murphy had not been as calm and collected as before during that time.
Before Maxwell left, he had said that he would hire capable assassins from the Blood Abyss Sect to break the protecting array, no matter what it cost.
Once the array was broken, there would be no one in the sect powerful enough to oppose them, and they would kill them all.
"Master Murphy, any news from the sect in the Starry Sword Region?" Darren asked.
He stepped into the hall and saw Murphy in a tizzy, his face plastered in worry with his hand rubbing his forehead in a futile attempt to relieve his stress.
"Yes, I got a message from them," Murphy replied, low in spirit.
"Really? What did they say?" Darren asked, his excitement growing.
Murphy sighed and shook his head. "The elder said he would send a principal disciple to learn more of the situation... in a month."
"A principal disciple? Then what seems to be the problem? Is he not strong enough?" Darren asked, confused by his distress.
"No, the principal disciple is strong enough to deal with all this. It's just that I'm worried we don't have enough time. We may all be dead before the principal disciple arrives."
Darren realized that Maxwell would be very impatient. He had lost a big fortune after all. This was what was causing Murphy's headache.
"Master Murphy, I'd like to leave to see if I can find a helper," Darren said after thinking on it for a moment, deciding that he could go to Akbar for assistance.
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