Trembling

In the Coiling Dragon Universe, "Spiritual Sense" and "Soul Power" were two different things.

The two had similarities, but they also had differences.

The "Unity of Heaven and Man" attained at the Saint-level could be considered the embryonic form of "Spiritual Sense."

Once a Saint-level Expert completely comprehended a profound mystery of the laws, the profound mystery they had comprehended would condense into a divine spark under the Law of Heaven and Earth.

After the soul entered the divine spark, a God-level Expert could be considered to be in a state of "Unity of Heaven and Man" at all times.

It was just that their "Heaven" had changed from the profound mysteries of the laws within heaven and earth during the Saint-level to the profound mysteries of the laws they themselves had comprehended.

What spread out through the divine spark from Soul Power was "Spiritual Sense."

Generally speaking, a God-level Expert's "Spiritual Sense" was far more powerful than Soul Power.

That was because "Spiritual Sense" was the power produced by the fusion of Soul Power and the profound mysteries of the laws one had comprehended.

However, there were always people in this world blessed with talents and luck far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

For instance, Soul Variants!

The intensity of a Soul Variant's Soul Power far surpassed that of ordinary gods.

Locke remembered that after Linley, the protagonist of the Coiling Dragon Universe, completed his four-element soul mutation, the intensity of his Soul Power was more than ten times greater than his Spiritual Sense.

Even now, Locke could only sense water elements. Clearly, he possessed only Water Element Affinity.

Naturally, Locke did not believe that he could become a Soul Variant.

However, that did not prevent Locke from studying how to use Soul Power more efficiently.

For example, the initial Heavenly Dance Treasure Wheel had merely "deceived" the soul's Five Senses. It was only after Locke's research into the soul had reached a higher level that he truly achieved the "deprivation" of the Five Senses.

"Deception" was an illusion technique, while "deprivation" was a Soul Attack.

Although he was a transmigrator, Locke did not think too highly of himself.

After all, as an affiliated universe of the Grandmist Universe's primary universe, the Coiling Dragon Universe was inherently weaker than the primary universe.

So far, the only person who had managed to break through the shackles of the Coiling Dragon Universe was Linley Baruch, more than a thousand cosmic cycles later.

Locke possessed only Water Element Affinity and could not possibly replicate Linley's path. This extinguished any thought Locke had of becoming a protagonist.

After all, based on Locke's more than twenty years of experience reading webnovels, which protagonist did not aim to transcend the universe?

Locke even felt that his limit might be that of an ordinary High God.

If he wanted to survive against experts stronger than himself, Locke felt that he could only have a chance by strengthening himself in the area of "illusion techniques."

And once his strength increased, evolving the illusion technique of "deception" into a true "Soul Attack" would not be difficult.

"I understand now. So that's how it is..."

Inside the training room of Locke City, Locke held a wisp of faint flame in his hand, a flash of realization passing through his eyes.

"Profound mysteries of the elemental laws..."

Looking at the wisp of soul flame in his hand, Locke clapped his hands together.

With a bang, the soul flame instantly shattered.

Thud...

As the soul flame shattered, the tall figure who had been standing behind Locke lost the light in his pupils and instantly pitched forward, his life force gone.

With a casual wave of Locke's hand, blue light flashed. Fyodor's body instantly lost all moisture and turned into a blackened corpse, before exploding into a cloud of black ash.

Locke had already forgotten how long he had been in seclusion.

But he was extremely satisfied with the results of this seclusion.

At present, Locke's comprehension of the Profound Mystery of Illusionary Fog was three or four times greater than before.

Locke estimated that if his former comprehension of the Profound Mystery of Illusionary Fog had been one-tenth, then it was now at least four-tenths.

Besides that, based on the state of Unity of Heaven and Man within Fyodor's soul, Locke had inadvertently comprehended another profound mystery of the Water Law—the Profound Mystery of Water Element.

The flame in Locke's hand just now had been a soul fragment containing Fyodor's profound mystery of the "Fire Element."

It could be said that after Locke stripped away Fyodor's profound mystery of the "Fire Element," Fyodor had lost the qualification to enter the state of "Unity of Heaven and Man."

In other words, Locke had knocked Fyodor down from the Saint-level.

If others learned of this, Locke would definitely become the common enemy of countless Saint-level Experts.

This was also why Locke had directly destroyed Fyodor's soul and killed him just now.

Even though Locke could have altered Fyodor's memories and made him forget that he had once been a Saint-level Expert, rather than keep such a person around as a potential threat, it was better to destroy the evidence outright.

After walking out of the training room, Locke had a thought.

In an instant, everything within the lord's manor entered Locke's mind.

However, what puzzled Locke was that he could not sense his parents' auras anywhere in the lord's manor.

Leaving the training room, Locke headed toward Cole's location.

Along the way, Locke encountered many guards on patrol and standing watch, as well as busy maids.

Yet these guards and maids behaved as though they could not see Locke at all, each carrying on with their own work.

As he passed a side courtyard, Locke saw Cole's wife—President Luqi's daughter—teasing a little girl of five or six.

After stopping to watch for a while, Locke finally left and continued toward where Cole was.

Cole was currently in the meeting room of the lord's manor, where official matters were handled.

Every day, there were numerous affairs requiring Cole's attention, and many major decisions also needed to be made by him.

As the person Locke had entrusted with the full management of Locke Territory, Cole might not possess a noble title, but even the two viscounts in Locke City did not dare show him any disrespect.

After all, Cole was Lord Locke's younger brother.

And Cole had not disappointed Locke.

With decades of experience managing a merchant association, Cole had governed Locke Territory extremely well.

By now, Locke City's population had already surpassed two million. It was estimated that within ten years, the city's population would reach its peak.

When Locke entered the meeting room, Cole was discussing something with the two viscounts.

But when Locke turned his gaze toward Cole, a sudden chill ran through his heart.

He actually saw signs of old age on Cole and the two viscounts.

Those two viscounts had once been squadron commanders in the Tsunami Legion, genuine Ninth-level Warriors.

A Ninth-level expert could live for as long as five hundred years.

Only after reaching the age of four hundred and thirty would a Ninth-level expert enter "old age," their body gradually growing frail.

Just how long had he been in seclusion?