The Evil Celestine

Gu Ding raised this question because he was genuinely puzzled. Logically speaking, since the other party was already at the level of a celestial god, their soul strength should also be at the level of a celestial god.

The souls of all living beings in this world are exceptionally fragile. Bartholomew's soul strength was more than enough to wipe out all other living beings. Therefore, the possibility of Bartholomew's demise being caused by human intervention is unlikely. The most probable explanation is Heavenly Tribulation.

But Bartholomew shook his head. "It's not Heavenly Tribulation. Due to the limitations of spacetime rules, Heavenly Tribulation cannot be brought upon me here. My soul was destroyed by someone."

"Deliberate destruction? But as far as I know, the souls of all living beings in this world are extremely weak. How could anyone possibly destroy your soul?" Gu Ding looked on in disbelief upon hearing this answer.

"The one who destroyed my soul was not a native of this world, but an outsider," Bartholomew then explained the whole story.

"When I came to this world more than three million years ago, the humans were not yet fully civilized and lived a Wildlings life of eating raw meat and drinking blood. So, I taught those Wildlings how to use fire, how to use writing, and how to make and use tools... bringing human civilization to this world."

"Civilization has been passed down from generation to generation, and I have taught them more and more, including some formations, potion making, and tool making... Many people with extraordinary talents have also emerged, learned what I taught, and passed it down. In just tens of thousands of years, the civilization of this world has undergone a leapfrog evolution."

"To show their respect for me, they built Heavenly God Palace for me and sculpted a statue of me. Civilization was on track. And I had no need to stay in this world any longer, so I chose to leave and prepare to travel to my next destination."

"But just a few days before I was about to leave, another outsider arrived. That outsider was a powerful soul cultivator with an extremely weak physical body. He discovered the special features of this world and felt that it was a good place to cultivate the physical body. So he began to use special methods to frantically devour the living beings of this world, including the humans."

"After I realized what had happened, I fought him several times, and in the end, he destroyed my soul with a soul attack. My physical body was too strong to be absorbed, so he stored it away. He planned to absorb it after his physical body reached the True God Realm. After killing me, he went into seclusion, wanting to break through to the True God Realm in one fell swoop."

"He hadn't been in seclusion for long when my soul was resurrected. At the same time, I discovered that my soul and body were completely incompatible, and I couldn't leave this world at all. Helpless, I had no choice but to escape, taking my physical body to the bottom of this Innate Blood Pool that I had discovered before, and created this cemetery. I then used my soul power to modify this space with an array, completely hiding myself, waiting for a qualified successor to appear."

"After millions of years, I have finally waited for this moment. And I never expected that the person I have waited for would be an outsider." Bartholomew was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Gu Ding.

"Millions of years have passed, and not a single person has come here?" Gu Ding asked with some curiosity. After all, in this world of physical cultivation, there should be no shortage of exceptionally talented individuals who could raise their physical bodies to the same level as their Emperor Body in the Abyss Blood Pool.

"The rules I set are rather unique. One is that if you stay in the Abyss Blood Pool for 100 days, you will be automatically teleported to the entrance passage. The other is that you must reach the bottom of the Abyss Blood Pool, find the location of the passage, and voluntarily enter it. In addition, once you enter the passage, no matter how fast you swim, you will be lost in the passage for ten days. During these ten days, if the person being tested shows any signs of backing down or stops moving forward, I will immediately erase their memory and then teleport them away."

"Actually, quite a few people have successfully entered the tunnel, but you are the only one who has been moving forward in the tunnel for ten days without slowing down even a little."

Bartholomew was clearly pleased with Gu Ding's performance in the tunnel.

"There's something else I don't understand," Gu Ding raised another question. "Since that guy is an outsider, why hasn't he left this world for millions of years? Does he know you're still hiding in this world? Even if he knew you were hiding in this world, there's no need for him to wait for millions of years. In millions of years, he could go to other worlds and find other cultivation resources, which would be enough to greatly increase his strength."

"You've got a few things wrong. First, the lifespan of gods is measured in hundreds of millions of years. A few million years is only one percent of their lifespan. It's possible for the True God Realm to spend so much time guarding an enemy." Bartholomew said something that overturned Gu Ding's common sense.

"Secondly, after reaching the level of a Celestial God, the amount of cultivation resources required is extremely large, and every improvement in strength is extremely difficult. This is why there are travelers like us between planes; we are actually all busy traveling for cultivation resources. For millions of years, we may spend most of our time on the road. If we don't collect enough resources, our strength may not even be able to improve by one level."

"Thirdly, for millions of years, the other party was unaware of my existence. When he emerged from seclusion more than three million years ago, he discovered that my physical body was missing. He searched for several years in this world before giving up, ultimately believing that I had escaped. The reason he stayed was because this world has a special type of crystal ore that can be used to enhance the physical strength of a god-level body. However, the production rate of that crystal ore is extremely slow, taking a million years to produce just one. I had already plundered all the previous crystal ore mines. I didn't want to wait any longer back then, so I prepared to leave this world."

"So what are your plans? In your current state, you can't possibly seek revenge on him, can you?" The god was unaware of Bartholomew's existence, which reassured Gu Ding somewhat. However, he didn't know if the man in front of him would deliberately provoke him.

"I haven't been idle for the past few million years. Although I haven't been able to cultivate, I've been researching formations to deal with him. I forgot to tell you, I'm a Formation Grandmaster. The reason I was able to evade that guy's detection is also thanks to formations. Over the past three million years, I've developed an extremely powerful soul attack formation. As long as I can get within a hundred meters of him, I'm 80% confident I can kill him in one strike!" Bartholomew said this with great confidence.

"A hundred meters away? In your current state, you'd be killed the moment he spots you, right? How could you possibly get within a hundred meters of him?" Gu Ding thought the other person's idea was a bit unrealistic.

"I can't do it, but you can!" Bartholomew looked at Gu Ding with burning eyes.

"How could I possibly get within a hundred meters of a god? I would be killed the instant I got close." Gu Ding shook his head. He wasn't so arrogant as to think he could handle a god in his current state.

"I didn't tell you to approach secretly; I told you to approach openly and honestly," Bartholomew laughed. "That Celestine fellow, every time he wakes up from his slumber, he holds Martial Dao Assembly in the name of the Heavenly God Palace, inviting all the genius martial artists to participate. His purpose is to see what his human ingredients look like before they mature, to give himself a sense of anticipation. And I sensed that he woke up more than three months ago, and I estimate that in a few months, around the New Year of this world, he will hold another Martial Dao Assembly."

"He would watch the Martial Dao Assembly every time as the Heavenly God Palace Master. As long as I achieved a top-three finish in the Martial Dao Assembly, he would personally award me the honor, and then I could make my move."

Gu Ding frowned slightly after hearing this. "Without revealing my identity as an outsider, even if I Combat Strength, my physical body is at most only at the level of Second Sequence True God. There will definitely be many Ninth Sequence True Gods among the participants, so it's impossible for me to get into the top three."

"This Martial Dao Tournament is divided into tiers. Below the Half-Step True God is one tier, the Half-Step True God is another tier, and the True God is yet another tier. These three different tiers compete separately. So, there are actually nine people in the top three. If you participate in the competition, you'll be competing in the Half-Step True God tier. With your strength, it won't be difficult for you to get first place."

"I hope to receive your help, not only to avenge myself, but also to rid this world of a villain who takes pleasure in cannibalism. Of course, your help won't be without reward. Whatever you want, or whatever you want me to do for you, I will do my best to help you." Bartholomew knew that these things couldn't be forced. He needed Gu Ding's Gu Ding not only for revenge, but also to leave this world. Otherwise, waiting for the next person might take forever.

"Gu Ding, agree to his request!" The Sea Emperor communicated with Gu Ding through his consciousness. "You don't need to worry about any danger. This guy needs you to leave this world. So he will definitely do everything he can to ensure your safety first. Besides, after you agree to his request, we can have many conditions for exchange."

Gu Ding wasn't considering these issues. What he was thinking about was how many people would suffer after he left this world if he didn't kill that guy named Celestine. Moreover, if that guy could wreak havoc on this world, he might wreak havoc on a second or a third world in the future.

Thinking of all this, he immediately nodded, "I promise to help you!"

~~~

[I've dug myself into a hole again. Enough said, the next two updates won't be until midnight, so don't wait.] (To be continued~^~)