Chapter 138: Counter-Devouring the Dragon Soul

"You... How could you just eat it?" Wei Dongting asked, utterly horrified. "That is an evil entity! How dare you eat it? Aren't you afraid of being corrupted? Even divine descendants would turn into evil entities."

"Mm-hm, it's an evil entity. I recognize it," Qinghu nodded. "I won't turn into an evil entity."

Evil gods were a category of deities with many branches.

She had frequently accompanied her elders on treasure-hunting expeditions in outer space and had seen many bizarre things. An evil entity was merely a byproduct of an evil god's divine power!

As for evil entities, she had seen plenty of varieties.

Put simply, evil entities were also divine favorites.

However, these divine favorites were rather unhinged, usually reduced to mere instinct, or having madness replace their sanity.

Come to think of it, almost everything belonging to the household of an evil god was like this.

"This is deeply nourishing," Qinghu said. In times when divine power was lacking, she had swallowed evil entities and evil gods on more than one occasion. Ahem, ahem, they didn't actually taste all that great, but they yielded divine crystals. After filtering out the impurities that didn't need to be kept, the divine crystals condensed from the powers of evil gods and evil entities were of much higher purity than ordinary natural divine crystals.

"Even if it's nourishing, you can't just eat it raw like that! Wait, did you say nourishing? Could you possibly be a divine descendant of an evil god? Otherwise, how could an evil entity be deeply nourishing? Normal divine descendants wouldn't dare eat them," Wei Dongting said.

"Do you have some kind of fundamental misconception about divine descendants?" Qinghu rolled her eyes directly at Wei Dongting.

"What do you mean?"

"What types of gods do you think exist? Primordial gods, acquired gods? Ancient gods, primitive deities, faith deities?" Qinghu actually began discussing the categories of deities directly with Wei Dongting.

Wei Dongting's head buzzed with a loud ringing.

"Aren't gods just those primordial and acquired gods? And aren't acquired gods further divided into faith gods and enfeoffed gods?"

"What you said is partly right, but also partly wrong.

Gods are actually divided into ancient gods—those who naturally possess divine bodies and true souls, or primordial souls, and are born in mastery of the Dao and supreme power.

Such gods are actually the most cherished children of the universe and the world. From birth, they are protected by the universe and the world.

They are generally among the very first batches of lifeforms within the universe and the world.

Ancient gods also have many branches: some are called the Primordial Divine Clan, some the Genesis Divine Clan, and others the Innate Divine Clan. Generally speaking, however, a universe and world that has birthed ancient gods will never produce another similar group of beings.

Ancient gods do not experience rise and fall, decline and prosperity; they do not even experience death. They are eternal.

After the advent of ancient gods, many new-generation gods subsequently emerged. To distinguish them, these newborn special gods—beings completely distinct from the ancient gods—were called new gods.

Both worlds and universes actually undergo cycles of rise and fall, decline and prosperity, evolving through periodic shifts. Even though their cycles of rise and fall are immensely long, they do exist nonetheless.

Ancient gods transcend the rise, fall, transformation, and succession of their own universes and worlds.

They will help the universe and the world with tasks, but they won't work for the universe and the world forever, right?

Thus, the divine seats and godhood of the new generation were born. Certain deities refined divine seats and godhood, thereby becoming new gods.

Let us first discuss what enfeoffed gods are all about.

Put plainly, if you refine a divine seat and godhood, even a mortal can become a god. Of course, as an ordinary, run-of-the-mill mortal, you wouldn't even have the capability to approach a divine seat or godhood.

However, if you embark on the path to godhood step by step from mortality, although achieving godhood is somewhat arduous, it is not entirely without a chance.

Yet, the beings who initially walked the path of enfeoffed gods were not favored by the world and universe; they were spirits nurtured by heaven and earth that attained godhood. Once they became gods, they would abandon their previous fleshly shells, ascending to godhood with their divine souls. This kind of apotheosis was recognized by heaven and earth.

Alternatively, they were worshipped and revered by their own kin, gradually gaining the recognition of more living beings, as well as the world and the universe, and ultimately being acknowledged through this validation to become gods. Reduced to its core, this was apotheosis through primitive worship.

Generally speaking, once you possess a divine seat and godhood, you will receive a managed territory assigned to you by the universe or the world.

In other words, your divine jurisdiction.

From then on, your career as a hardworking little worker bee begins.

Anyone who works for the ruthless and merciless universe and world generally makes a one-way trip. That is to say, regardless of the reason for which you ascended to a divine seat, the moment you ascend, my apologies—unless you die, you remain a utilitarian tool god forever.

The universe and the world will not grant you any rest days.

Impossible; a life of endless toil, day and night, without replacements, will be yours."

Although Wei Dongting and the others knew in their hearts that what Shen Qinghu spoke of were profound secrets concerning proper deities, they still could not hold back the smiles playing at the corners of their mouths.

Clearly, enfeoffed gods were also terrifying, supreme figures, right? Why did they sound so somewhat pitiful and comical when spoken of by Shen Qinghu?

"Enfeoffed gods generally lack powerful materialized, rule-bound fleshly divine bodies. What they usually possess are energetic and rule-bound divine bodies, leaning somewhat closer to spiritual entities. Overall, they are much weaker than ancient gods—they can be considered simplified versions of ancient gods.

Enfeoffed gods are still quite favored by the will of certain worlds and universes to this day.

Therefore, they are more widely spread.

Many world and universe consciousnesses have actively bestowed divine seats and godhood, helping living beings become enfeoffed gods.

Of course, enfeoffed gods also have their flaws.

That is, the minds of living beings are prone to change. Either they are continuously affected by the vast amount of rules and Daoist powers circulating through their divine seats and godhood, causing the gods to go mad.

Initially conscientious working-class gods later found themselves turning lazy or going completely insane, severely disrupting the operation of the world.

After too many incidents of this kind, the world and universe consciousness created yet another type of new god.

Faith gods.

Put bluntly, even gods have entered an involutionary rat race.

If you don't like to work or can't work, then step down and quickly surrender your divine seat and godhood.

Allow new living beings to acquire your divine seat and godhood, ascending anew to become new gods.

To accelerate the birth of new gods, the world and universe consciousness would actively drop various dream-sent divine edicts, helping them comprehend the path of the faith-based divine dao. Thus, newer and more faith gods emerged.

A faith god generally had to kick the non-working gods of the older generation off the divine throne if they wished to ascend it.

Consequently, this usually triggered endless divine wars."

"I've heard tales of many deities, but I always felt rather muddled. Yet this time, hearing you put it this way, Shen Qinghu, everything suddenly became crystal clear. So this is truly what deities are all about," She Qi said admiringly.

Shen Qinghu thought to herself: I am speaking of my own family's affairs, naturally, I know it inside and out!

"There's a sense of standing on high and overseeing the whole panorama," She Eleven said.

Shou An also nodded. "Indeed, Shen Qinghu, you've categorized deities with such absolute clarity. Oh right, and what about those evil gods?"

"Where there is force, there is counterforce; where the Dao runs straight, there are curves.

Evil gods are simply the flip side of deities."

Just as where there is order, there is chaos, and where there is sunlight, there is darkness.

The existence of evil gods and demon gods, contrasted with other deities, is like the two sides of a mirror.

"I always feel like the destructive power of evil gods and demon gods seems greater than that of other deities?" Qingzhen asked.

"If you replaced them with the worlds and universes where they reside, the deities inherently destined to clash with them could actually cause a similarly massive amount of destruction," Qinghu explained to her fourth older brother. "If it's a naturally born divine descendant, stripping away and dissolving the useless components within an evil entity while absorbing and refining the useful divine crystals within it should pose no problem at all.

They're just tiny evil entities.

Of course, if you encounter those massive, fully-grown evil entities that have established themselves, swallowing them whole in one go might prove a bit difficult—you'd end up with indigestion. The best method is to chop them directly into sections, eating a section whenever you feel like it.

If you fancy a cold tossed salad, just add a few more seasonings."

Qinghu introduced, "Of course, if you are undergoing the transformation into a divine descendant yourself, things become rather troublesome. When your foundation is unstable, you had best not do this. It's very easy to accidentally transform yourself right back into an evil entity."

"Wait, I've never heard of divine descendants undergoing transformation?"

"How could you not? Nine times out of ten, those stories you've heard about people using divine crystals or other divine artifacts to awaken divine power and become divine descendants are actually transformed divine descendants. Proper divine descendants can generally awaken their divine blood spontaneously, unless their bloodline is far too diluted.

Yet if your bloodline is overly diluted, your awakening of divine blood basically still falls under the category of a transformed divine descendant.

Because the process of coming into contact with divine crystals or divine artifacts is also a form of acquired transformation.

The divine blood originally within your body merely enhanced your constitution, increasing your resistance to divine crystals and divine artifacts, and giving you a few more percentage points of success."

"Isn't it only by possessing divine blood that one can possibly be stimulated by divine crystals or other divine artifacts to awaken their own divine blood?" Bailie and the others asked in astonishment.

"You've been deceived. Being subjected to the radiation and contamination of divine crystals or other divine artifacts over a long period can likewise turn someone into an acquired divine descendant.

If you acquire divine blood... ahem, well, swallowing it directly will still cause you to burst apart and die.

However, if it is placed within a certain range, repeatedly radiating yourself or your kin, transforming into an acquired divine descendant is not entirely impossible."

Of course, the far more probable outcome is that the entire clan dies off. Is divine blood something you can casually approach?

Without deities and the binding wills of gods, divine blood is not all that different from the blood of evil gods.

Naturally, this only holds true under equal conditions.

If those evil gods are veteran god-kings or even god-emperor tiers, while you are merely a newly born minor god,

what nonsense are you talking about? A hundred drops of your divine blood wouldn't defeat a single drop of theirs.

When encountering someone else's divine blood, the best course of action to avoid being directly contaminated and turned into an evil god's vassal is simply to run away!!

"This is the first time I've ever heard that divine descendants can also be manufactured through transformation." She Qi and the others had glowing eyes, each harboring their own deep calculations.

If one day they too acquired some divine artifacts or divine crystals, would they choose to transform themselves?

Most certainly.

"Although divine descendants can be transformed, I advise you not to try it lightly. Wait until you have grown strong before attempting it. Otherwise, should you happen to die, please do not hold me responsible," Qinghu said with a stern expression. "I only said it is possible to be transformed, not that you are guaranteed to become a divine descendant."

"You worry too much, Milady. Everyone understands that using divine crystals and divine artifacts for transformation, even if successful, is a near-death ordeal. If one succeeds, it's a matter of luck; if one fails, there are no regrets to be had," Bailie said with a smile.

"Acquired transformation into a divine descendant—no matter how dangerous, it's still a path forward," Heizhan voiced what everyone was thinking, immediately earning nods of approval from the crowd whose minds were racing with distracting thoughts.

"Will the divine blood within an acquired transformed divine descendant be passed down to future generations as well?" Bailie asked again.

"It will. But Bailie, if you use a divine crystal, the probability of your bloodline directly reverting to its ancestral origin is much higher. After all, the Earth Qilin is also a divine beast," Qinghu said.

So the crux of the matter still lay with the divine crystals.

Bailie felt his soaring ambition get reignited once more.

"I never expected that those divine descendant lords of Wentu City were hiding so many things from us," someone said indignantly.

"If they didn't hide it, divine descendants would be crawling everywhere. In that case, how could those noble lords maintain their lofty status?"

"Spare us the sour grapes. Even if we know that divine descendants can be artificially transformed, the first thing you need is a divine crystal or a divine artifact—where on earth are you going to look for them? The homes of those divine descendant lords? Will they let you walk in and take them?

Trying to unearth divine crystals and divine artifacts from the wilderness is exceedingly difficult."

At this, many couldn't help but sigh.

Qingjin walked over to Qinghu, lowering his head to ask, "Can divine descendants really be artificially transformed?"

Qinghu nodded.

"Then what on earth is that thing deep within the subterranean palace that controls so many corpse-beetles? Is it also an evil entity?"

Qinghu furrowed her brows in puzzlement. "I'm not entirely sure. I'll need to see it to be certain."

"Then what about this?" Qingjin pointed to the dragon soul still lying limply on the ground.

"Give it a moment and he'll recover on his own," Qinghu said.

"Sigh, Helan Che is the new-generation Dao-child of the Helan family. Such a fine prodigy, yet he ended up being merged with a dragon soul," Ruan Qingwu walked closer to the corpse-like dragon soul and said. "I heard from my grandfather that soul fusion also has a primary and secondary aspect. If the dragon soul takes precedence, then the personality of the merged soul will be dominated by the dragon soul. In other words, the Helan Che of today is no longer Helan Che. He is a jiao-dragon."

Ruan Qingwu mentioned Helan Che several times in front of the dragon soul, insisting that Helan Che was no longer Helan Che and had already become a jiao-dragon.

The dragon soul, which had been playing dead upon the ground, suddenly began to twitch.

So violently that Ruan Qingwu immediately retreated in fright.

"What is happening here?"

Qinghu tilted her head to take a look. "Congratulations to you. You successfully awakened Helan Che's consciousness first, so this dragon soul is no longer a dragon soul, but Helan Che himself, who has swallowed and fused the dragon soul."

True to her words, the moment Qinghu's voice faded, the dragon soul began to twist and transform, shifting into the figure of a young man within moments.

Once his facial features became distinct, the young man's demeanor also shifted from cold and aloof to open and heroic.

The corners of his mouth curled upward, and he opened his eyes. Then, he leaped to his feet, standing directly before Qinghu and Ruan Qingwu.

"My thanks to the two of you. If Little Sister Shen hadn't heavily damaged the dragon soul, even if Little Sister Ruan had awakened me, I wouldn't have been able to counterattack the dragon soul and devour it. Originally, I was constantly suppressed by it—clearly it was only a remnant soul. Yet it forcibly merged with me and attempted to annex me.

Had I not fought desperately to hold on, I would have perished long ago.

Today's triumph can be considered settling that previous score of attempted devouring."