The True Treasure Within the Kuhai Divine Kingdom

"An illusion?"

Gu Ce snorted coldly.

He and Diamant had originally been wandering around the Fishman city, hoping to find the location of the treasure vault or something similar.

Rimuru said it had discovered a place where an extremely high amount of energy was concentrated, so Gu Ce brought Diamant over to take a look.

This was a peculiar stretch of sea not far from the Fishman city.

The seawater was a faint pink, seeming to tempt people into stepping inside.

The moment the two entered, Gu Ce sensed that something was wrong. But before he could leave, the power contained within the seawater had already dragged him into an illusion.

"An illusion is useless against me!"

Gu Ce closed his eyes and steadied his heart.

Absolute True Heart!

Although Gu Ce had not found an opportunity to use this secret method since he began cultivating it, he had never stopped studying it.

Ice Desolation World Lord had obtained this secret method through a fortunate coincidence. It had not been created by him!

Rimuru had once said that Gu Ce was highly compatible with this secret method, and it had not been lying.

After more than a year of cultivation, Gu Ce had successfully gained entry into the first stage of this secret method!

Within his Sea of Consciousness, a golden phantom emerged over the surface of Gu Ce's soul, protecting it from all external attacks.

"You think an illusion like this can move me?"

Gu Ce remained clear-headed, his will incomparably firm and unmoved by external things.

Once one entered the first stage of the four stages of Absolute True Heart, one could already become immune to soul attacks at the Universe Level. Reaching the Specialization Level would even grant immunity to soul attacks at the Domain Lord Level!

"Break!"

He shattered one layer of illusion after another. The illusions here were far more realistic and powerful than the one Rimuru had created before, yet they still could not shake Gu Ce.

Within the illusion, every day felt like a year!

Every second was endless torment.

The boundless illusions tempered Gu Ce's heart.

Cultivating the heart could be divided into three realms.

The first realm emphasized "understanding one's heart and seeing one's nature, directly pointing to one's true heart"—Heart Like a Blade!

The second realm was the union of yin and yang, unity with heaven and man, the heart of an innocent child—heart like water!

The third realm was a boundless, ethereal heart. The heart could be infinitely vast. The heart could contain all things!

With every advancement in these three states of mind, one's resistance to pressure, illusions, soul attacks, and the like would immediately soar tenfold or a hundredfold.

Yet in essence, there was no substantive difference between these three states of mind!

Gu Ce's path of cultivating the heart emphasized the self. If divided according to these three states, he belonged to the first realm: holding fast to his true heart without relying on any techniques.

It was absolute confidence in himself. If one could not even believe in oneself, then what meaning was there in cultivating the heart?

"The focus of one's state of mind is not the realm itself, but firm conviction—purity that cannot be shaken by the outside world!" Gu Ce saw this clearly.

"Any path of cultivating the heart, once taken to its limit, will not be weaker than any other path!" Gu Ce thought.

Confident, but not arrogant; arrogant, but not foolish!

This was Gu Ce's path of the heart.

The illusion could not affect his inner world.

Within the illusion, a single second was infinitely stretched. One second was almost equivalent to a year.

Within the illusion, joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, and countless other things tried to influence Gu Ce's heart, yet he remained utterly unmoved.

Later on, even as Gu Ce's soul began to suffer the agony of being torn apart, his heart still could not be shaken.

Who knew how much time passed.

Absolute True Heart naturally entered the Specialization Level!

The talent of Earthlings in matters of the heart was fully unleashed at this moment.

Gu Ce's Will Strength had already reached the Domain Lord Level!

Layer upon layer of illusions came without end.

The illusions tempered his spirit.

To reach the true heart, hold firm to the true heart, and believe in oneself—this was a powerful heart, the certainty that one was the strongest! No matter what he encountered, he believed in himself firmly and never wavered.

Gu Ce's will was incomparably firm as he crazily shattered layer after layer of illusions. The rate at which the illusions formed gradually began to fall behind the speed at which Gu Ce destroyed them.

Outside the illusion.

Gu Ce's body was slowly being pushed into the depths of the sea by the pink seawater.

The dark, profound waters seemed intent on swallowing Gu Ce whole.

Fortunately, Gu Ce's body had not suffered any harm, and no sea beasts appeared around this stretch of sea.

Rimuru spun anxiously in circles, yet it could find no solution and could only pray that Gu Ce would wake up soon.

A long time later.

The surrounding seawater gradually faded, losing its color and becoming like the waters of every other sea.

The power of the illusion vanished, and Diamant broke free from it and woke up.

"I broke through?"

Diamant was still confused when he realized that, at some unknown point, he had crossed into the Universe Level threshold he had dreamed of day and night!

First stage Universe Level!

He clenched his fists and felt his own strength. Diamant had only just begun to rejoice when he noticed something was wrong.

"Gu Ce!"

Unable to find Gu Ce, Diamant grew anxious.

Where was he?

If you disappeared, who would take me out of here?

"Outsider, how dare you come here?" A voice sounded behind Diamant.

"Master! You're finally awake!" Rimuru cried joyfully.

In the depths of Mirage Sea.

Gu Ce slowly opened his eyes. As he absorbed the memories appearing in his mind, he gradually understood everything.

"This Cosmic Secret Realm truly cannot be underestimated," Gu Ce murmured.

Even a small Ku Hai Secret Realm could give birth to something so peculiar.

Only after breaking through the illusion did Gu Ce learn that what had drawn him into it was a special secret method cast by a Special Life. At the same time, it could also be regarded as an inheritance.

A soul attack and illusion secret method—Mirage Sea.

Its creator was called the Mirage Sea Divine Lord, who, like the Ku Hai Divine Lord, had been born within the Ku Hai Secret Realm.

The difference was that the Mirage Sea Divine Lord's true body had been a Special Life, with a Gene Multiplier exceeding one hundred times.

The two had been close friends who grew up together.

The Mirage Sea Divine Lord specialized in souls and illusions. In terms of illusion techniques alone, it even surpassed Zerg Mother Queens of the same rank. In terms of overall strength, it could be considered a Peak Marquis, barely King-Sealing Level existence.

But unfortunately, it had not lived for long.

The Mirage Sea Divine Lord had become Immortal even earlier than the Ku Hai Divine Lord.

In a far more ancient era, a Universe Venerable from an unknown race came here and discovered it as a Special Life, intending to enslave it.

The Mirage Sea Divine Lord fought with all its might, but it still died miserably in the end, leaving its inheritance only to the Ku Hai Divine Lord.

After becoming Immortal, the Ku Hai Divine Lord placed its secret method inheritance within his Divine Kingdom, hoping that his own race—the Fishman Race—could inherit the legacy of his friend, the Mirage Sea Divine Lord.

This was the origin of Mirage Sea.

An unknown amount of time passed afterward. The Ku Hai Divine Lord later provoked the Human Race and likewise met the fate of falling.

The two brothers fell one after another. No living being had ever obtained the Mirage Sea Divine Lord's inheritance, until it finally came into Gu Ce's hands.

The Mirage Sea secret method was a Soul Attack Secret Method that also incorporated illusions.

It could also be considered a King-Sealing Level secret method.

This secret method had nine layers. The minimum requirement for receiving its inheritance was compatibility with the secret method, along with Will Strength exceeding one's own level by a full major realm.

Gu Ce possessed Domain Lord Level will while only at the Stellar Level, so he naturally met the requirement—and far exceeded it.

Because of this, he gained immensely from this secret method. Aside from its most fundamental contents, he also obtained something else.

Looking at the soft, transparent ball of water appearing in his hand, Gu Ce revealed a surprised expression.

"Rimuru, this thing looks a lot like you."

Gu Ce squeezed the ball of water. It actually felt quite nice.

"!" Rimuru immediately expressed its dissatisfaction. "What do you mean, it looks like me?! I'm not like that!"

"True. You can't even be squeezed," Gu Ce agreed.

"Gu Ce!" Rimuru was furious.

Gu Ce ignored it.

This ball of water was actually a descendant of the Mirage Sea Divine Lord.

Of course, it was dead.

It would be easier to understand it as something left behind by a lifeform. Its purpose was to help Gu Ce learn the Mirage Sea secret method in the shortest possible time and grant him the Psychic Power of the Mirage Sea Divine Lord's lineage.

It was somewhat similar to the inheritance Soul Seal left behind by Hu Yanbo.

Gu Ce swallowed it in one bite. Colorless and tasteless, its jelly-like texture reminded him of a snack from Earth.

A warm current emerged within his body, flowing through him before finally pouring into his Sea of Consciousness and transforming his body.

"Hmm!"

Gu Ce let out a muffled groan as he endured the changes in his body.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, pale pink miniature planets rapidly appeared. Then, as if he had advanced into the Stellar Level, they rapidly transformed, split apart, and strengthened into miniature stellar systems.

Not long afterward.

His Psychic Power reached the seventh stage of the Stellar Level!

With his Psychic Power rising to the same level as his Gene Energy, Gu Ce also completely mastered the first layer of the Mirage Sea secret method.

After checking his location, Gu Ce was fortunate that Rimuru had recorded the route along which the seawater had pushed them away. Otherwise, returning would have been quite difficult.

Taking out his spacecraft, Gu Ce rapidly headed toward the Fishman city.

Outside the Kuhai Divine Kingdom, within the Ku Hai Secret Realm.

Cangyuan Hou and Hafa stood in the air above the sea.

"Teacher, the rate at which the Kuhai Divine Kingdom is collapsing has clearly accelerated. The spatial treasure within should have failed, or been taken away by someone," Hafa said respectfully to Cangyuan Hou.

"Mm. It seems this trip was for nothing after all." Cangyuan Hou shook his head slightly.

"Teacher." Hafa paused. "What if Bai Zhou and the others obtained it?"

"Them?" Cangyuan Hou shook his head slightly.

"It is not that I wish to disparage them, but compared with the geniuses of the Virtual Universe Company and the Giant Axe Arena, they are far, far too lacking. They are not even comparable to those of the Universe Mercenary Alliance. Only the geniuses of the Universe Star River Bank can contend with them on even terms."

"I also saw that Gu Ce you mentioned before. His Law Comprehension at the Stellar Level is already about the same as Bai Zhou's. At his level, there are plenty like him in the Virtual Universe Company."

Hafa did not know how to respond. Among the five great powers of the Human Race, the two banks were indeed relatively weaker.

"Enough. Prepare to bring them out. This Divine Kingdom is about to collapse, so I will retrieve them in advance," Cangyuan Hou said with a wave of his hand.

"I had hoped the gains from this trip would let me make a push toward the King-Sealing Level, but it seems it is still not enough." Cangyuan Hou sighed. "Hafa, grow stronger as quickly as possible. I plan to try my luck on the Outer Domain Battlefield in the next era."

"I owed a favor to a King-Sealing Level expert to come here, and in the end, I have to repay it."

"I hope that one day, I will see you break through to become Immortal."

"Teacher..." Hafa said worriedly. "Why must you risk your life like this?"

"Pursuing greater strength is the goal of every warrior." After saying this, Cangyuan Hou fell silent.

I personally feel this original side story was still not written very well o(╥﹏╥)o

So I wrapped it up rather hastily.

The Genius Battle arc is coming up next.

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If you spot any bugs, feel free to point them out~