"Only the questions you want to answer… are the ones you answer yourself, huh?"
Locke was not surprised by His Majesty Celes' words.
In this world, aside from one's parents, no one treated another kindly without reason.
If Celes held him in special regard, then it was inevitable that Celes wanted something from him.
Of course, Locke also understood that this "want" was not a request for him to do something specific, but rather an attempt to bring him under Celes' command.
After all, even within a Sovereign's Legion, its members were far from a single, unified bloc.
There were inevitably numerous internal factions.
In this era, a Highgod was already considered formidable combat power within a Sovereign's Legion.
And yet Celes had been dispatched to a material plane to gather faith—this alone showed that Celes undoubtedly belonged to the suppressed faction.
To the lofty Sovereigns, the internal affairs of their legions were irrelevant. As long as the legion completed the tasks assigned to it, that was all that mattered.
Of course, there was another possibility.
That was, back when Celes had first been sent to the material plane to collect faith, he had only been a Demigod, just like the Light Pope.
His breakthrough to the Highgod realm might have occurred precisely during his time gathering faith for a Sovereign in the material plane.
After all, faith power was not useful solely to Sovereigns.
For god-level beings, it was also an excellent accelerator for cultivation.
With the faith of an entire plane supporting him, it was not impossible for Celes to advance rapidly to the upper-god realm.
Shaking these thoughts from his mind, Locke got straight to the point.
"Your Majesty Celes, when I became a god, I chose the path of external ascension."
"And now, because my soul is split in two, my soul has become extremely weak. My cultivation speed is painfully slow."
"So I would like to ask Your Majesty—are there any treasures that can restore the soul?"
"And if so, how might one obtain them?"
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Celes was even more surprised.
He had not expected that even with such a weakened soul, Locke had still been able to toy with the Light Pope through soul attacks.
If Locke's soul were fully restored… would he be able to begin refining soul-defense divine artifacts right away?
"Locke, you truly continue to amaze me."
Celes straightened up, no longer appearing so casual.
Locke's current value was already more than enough to warrant serious attention.
"However, treasures capable of restoring soul power are rare—even I don't know many."
"Let me think…"
"The leaves of the Life Tree in the Life God Plane can restore both the divine body and soul power."
"The holy water of the Light God Plane can also restore soul power."
"The spirit springs of the Water God Plane likewise possess the ability to replenish soul power."
"And the amethyst crystals of the Purplegold Mountain Range in Hell can enhance soul strength—so their effect on restoring soul power should be quite good as well."
Celes spoke as he recalled these items one by one.
"These are all things I learned about while fighting for Lord Philo, the Main God, from other comrades."
"But every single one of them is exceedingly rare. Even back when I was still in the Soveregn Legion, I had only ever heard their names—never once seen them with my own eyes, much less used them."
Locke fell silent.
Among all the treasures Celes mentioned, the only one he knew anything about was the amethyst crystals of Hell's Purplegold Mountain Range. The rest were completely unfamiliar to him.
After all, the universe of Coiling Dragon was largely driven by the protagonist's perspective.
Aside from Hell—which was described in comparatively great detail—Locke was essentially blind when it came to the other God Planes and Supreme Planes.
Well… excluding the Netherworld.
He knew a thing or two about that place as well.
"Of course, Locke."
At this point, Celes' gaze turned deep and unfathomable as he looked at him.
"I also have another method—one that can restore soul power very quickly."
The instant these words left Celes' mouth, Locke's pupils contracted sharply.
In truth, aside from the treasures mentioned earlier, there was yet another method to restore and enhance soul power—
Soul Gold Beads.
This was a treasure refined by gods with extremely profound attainments in the path of the soul, extracting soul essence from living beings' souls and condensing it.
From a single living being's soul, it was often impossible to extract even a single wisp of soul essence.
A million soul essences could condense into a soybean-sized soul gold grain.
Twenty million soul essences could condense into a thumb-sized soul gold bead.
Other treasures required long periods of refinement before they could be absorbed.
But soul gold beads were different.
The moment one's soul power made contact with them, they could be effortlessly absorbed.
With enough soul gold beads, one could easily raise their soul to the absolute limit of their current realm.
Sure enough, Celes' low, steady voice echoed in Locke's ears.
"I once heard a rumor," Celes said slowly, "that those with extremely high attainments in the path of the soul can extract soul essence from living beings and condense it into soul gold beads."
"And soul gold beads can be said to be the finest nourishment for the soul."
"Locke, given your achievements in the soul path, I believe you can try this method."
"Ten billion."
"I can gradually relocate ten billion citizens from other regions of the Frostsnow Empire to your Locke Territory, allowing you to refine them into soul gold beads."
"Of course, in exchange, once you succeed in refining soul gold beads, you must also guarantee that you refine a batch for me. How about it?"
Terror.
Utter, boundless terror.
Not only did Locke's water-element divine clone standing before Celes feel it—
Even Locke himself, seated cross-legged in Locke Territory, abruptly opened his eyes, an uncontrollable look of fear spreading across his face.
What had Celes just said?
He wanted Locke to research how to refine soul essence?
And he wanted to send ten billion citizens to be refined into soul gold beads?
Ten billion.
That was ten billion!
These weren't some other creatures—they were humans, just like Locke himself!
How could Celes say such words so casually?
In a daze, Locke suddenly recalled something.
In the universe of Coiling Dragon, those capable of cultivating to godhood were not limited to humans alone.
There were countless material planes, and although most of them had humans—and in many of them humans were the dominant race—
There were also material planes where the primary inhabitants were dwarves, elves, beastmen, magical beasts, and other non-human races.
In fact, before the Main Gods spread magic in order to gather faith, humans in the Coiling Dragon universe had been nothing more than a very weak race.
Celes had spoken so lightly of sending ten billion citizens for refinement…
Could it be that His Majesty Celes' true body was not human at all?
In that instant, Locke felt as though he had plunged into an icy abyss.
(End of Chapter)
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