Chapter 295: The Truth of Fate

"In fact, the moment I completed that mission, it meant Daoist Master Xiaoyao could no longer successfully ascend. A person only gets one chance in a lifetime to shatter the heavenly barrier and listen to the Supreme Master's inquiry. In other words, that was his only opportunity to attempt ascension; if he failed, he would forever lose the qualification to become a god."

Xu Yang nodded. Hearing so much from Shura provided ample explanations for all the conjectures his team had made along the way. However, as one of the mortal realm's top cultivators, hearing so much about the Upper Realm still brought Xu Yang considerable shock.

"After that battle, you went to the Upper Realm? Why have you become like this now?"

As Xu Yang posed this question, he felt an intensely strong resentment emanating from Shura's soul consciousness.

"This is related to the woman you just saw in the tombstone. She was the love of my life, named Qianyu, and she was a lower-tier angel."

"An angel??"

Xu Yang was surprised again. Clearly, this was a term unique to the God Realm, representing a new identity that surprised and delighted him even more.

"Indeed. After I entered the Upper Realm, my very first mission was to punish a fallen angel. This allowed me, a newcomer to the God Realm, to clearly see their ugly true colors.

The Upper Realm also has its rivalries! The gods who created our continent all live in the Heavenly Kingdom, while the nation inhabited by the angel race I was tasked to hunt was the sworn enemy of the Heavenly Kingdom—the Feather Kingdom!

Innumerable angels reside in the Feather Kingdom. They possess perfect appearances and bodies, powerful abilities, and, most importantly, kind hearts! Unlike the Heavenly Kingdom, which devours the souls of beings from our lower realm, the Feather Kingdom is very benevolent towards the lower realms they created. They even guide and assist the souls of those who died unjustly, utterly unlike the purely greedy nature of the other gods.

When I arrived at the location of my hunt target, I saw that the female angel was using her divine power to aid an injured magical beast. How could I possibly carry out my mission to hunt her?

It was this mission that made me realize how tragic it is to live under someone else's control. Therefore, I must rebel! In my own unique way! Even if it means losing everything and enduring the most horrific pain, I must do something!

The target I was supposed to hunt was Qianyu. I defied the will of the High Gods, secretly escaping with her beyond the borders of the Heavenly Kingdom. We spent three years as fugitives, but those were also the happiest days of our lives together.

Unfortunately, in the end, we couldn't defy our fate. When faced with the High Gods who were hunting us, Qianyu chose to perform an Angelic Sacrifice, transferring the power unique to her angelic bloodline to me.

Under the baptism of the angelic bloodline, my soul strength was enhanced once more. I also gained Qianyu's Angelic Heart, and my Sea of Consciousness transformed into a colored soul world, just like yours is now. However, my divine power was no match for the pursuers from the Heavenly Kingdom, and I was ultimately captured.

The Heavenly Kingdom originally intended to execute me, but because my soul was blessed with angelic power, forcefully obliterating it with supreme divine power would alert the high-ranking beings of the Feather Kingdom.

In the angels' kingdom, every soul has the right to be treated equally; obliteration by divine power is absolutely forbidden.

Therefore, my godhead was merely shattered, and I lost my divine power. My soul and physical body were then banished back to the lower realm.

Every lower realm has a place that maintains an auxiliary relationship with the Upper Realm. Mount Qilin is such an auxiliary facility within the divine domain, specifically tasked with handling and suppressing rebellious deities from the Upper Realm.

I was imprisoned on Mount Qilin. It was then that I learned Daoist Master Xiaoyao had become Mount Qilin's appointed emissary, the strongest mortal working for Mount Qilin. He lacked the qualifications to become a god, yet he willingly allowed himself to be enslaved by the gods.

At his request, the higher-ups of Mount Qilin granted permission for me to be imprisoned in the Endless Tower of the Burial Cultivator Tomb, which was Daoist Master Xiaoyao's cultivation ground.

But what I never expected was that Daoist Master Xiaoyao was no longer the benevolent figure revered by the world ten thousand years ago, nor the opponent I respected! He had utterly transformed into a dog of the gods, a being whose desire to become a god had inflated to the point of personality distortion!

He imprisoned me in this place, my physical body suppressed within the Nine-Colored Qiankun Pagoda, and my soul, sealed within my head, suppressed inside the Endless Tower, enduring unimaginable pain and torment.

As for the Angelic Heart I inherited from Qianyu, because it possessed a portion of divine power, it broke free from Daoist Master Xiaoyao's detection range and was secretly hidden here by a wisp of my soul consciousness! My purpose was to wait for the appearance of a destined person who could inherit my legacy."

Xu Yang was stunned, his mind instinctively recalling Tuoba Yun.

"So, you chose the Emperor of Northern Jin?"

Shura sneered, "I merely used him to lure you to this place. With him present, he could draw the attention of the Endless Tower, paving the way for me to meet you. You can understand it as Tuoba Yun simply being your puppet. The power I imparted to him was the most malevolent power of resentful souls, which would twist and corrupt his soul, turning him into a demon truly devoid of faith and consumed by desire.

What you received, however, is the true Shura power, derived from the Angelic Heart and preserved by me in the God Realm! Remember, from this moment on, you and I are the only two beings in this world who possess colored soul worlds!

Even in the God Realm, only primordial gods, those considered true nobility, are qualified to possess colored soul worlds!

This is the most complete and true soul, a space that contains the endless mysteries and wonders of life, possesses boundless creativity, and is the most important treasure capable of nurturing divine essence! As long as your soul world remains unbroken, you will never perish!"

Xu Yang knew that he had won this grand gamble!

He had gained an unprecedented view of this world, unraveled all the mysteries of his cultivation path, and simultaneously, his previously vague direction forward now seemed to have become clear.

At this moment, Xu Yang, with color in his soul world, felt powerful life force irrigating and flowing through his body, filling him with strength.

"Now that you possess my power, draw the Shura Sword that once belonged to me! Once you defeat Daoist Master Xiaoyao, conquer the Endless Tower, and redeem my soul, I will bestow upon you the true Angelic Heart. Only then will you earn my complete trust, and I will formally accept you as my disciple, guiding you on your future path."

Following the guidance of Shura's soul consciousness, Xu Yang approached the tombstone, which shimmered with an eerie black and white light. He attempted to use his soul consciousness to activate the Shura power technique and soon received an atmospheric resonance from the Shura Sword.