Soul Golden Bead

This was a truly wondrous sensation, not something one could experience simply by reading books in a past life.

First, Sean could feel from the very depths of his soul that he had broken through a major realm. From this moment on, he knew he was no longer at his previous level; before, he was a Saint, but now, he was a God.

Grand, indescribable Laws of the World descended from beyond the Spatial Turbulence directly into the miniature plane space. Yet, they did not damage the edges of the plane, nor did they affect the tables and chairs inside; Sean himself simply floated upward uncontrollably. This sensation felt entirely natural, with no sense of coercion whatsoever, even to Sean himself.

A unique power seeped directly into Sean's mind and entered his soul. The Shadow Clone Profound Mystery contained within his soul seemed to be laid bare, being fused by the Laws of the World.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle." Just as Sean was still comprehending the grandeur of these Laws, a surge of darkness law energy suddenly condensed above his head. Within the Spatial Turbulence outside the plane, a vast amount of darkness elements were absorbed by the Laws of the World, yet they did not affect the bubble-like edge of the plane space. The powerful Spatial Turbulence was no longer so violent in the face of the Laws of the World.

A moment later, the power of the darkness law vanished, the surrounding darkness elements dispersed, and the Spatial Turbulence outside returned to normal. Hovering above Sean's head was a black Godhead the size of a finger, radiating a deep, dark luster.

Sean could now clearly feel the connection between his body and it; it seemed to be a part of his own body, and within this Godhead lay Sean's soul imprint.

Suddenly, the soul within the Godhead received a message: the Laws of the World were compelling him to choose between becoming a god within his body or outside of it.

This seemed to be a step every person who became a god independently had to experience. Without the slightest hesitation, Sean naturally chose to become a god outside his body.

In the Coiling Dragon world, the only advantage of becoming a god within the body was the ability to exert peak combat power immediately after ascension, as the soul did not need to be split and thus required no subsequent recovery.

Beyond that, there were no other benefits. Possessing multiple divine clones meant a longer lifespan, a higher potential for the future, and even the ability to serve as a "human telephone" in the Higher Planes.

However, in reality, the Laws of the World doing this made sense, because a Godhead is a supreme treasure, whether in the Higher Planes or the material planes.

If one lacked protection from others, choosing to become a god outside the body after the Laws of the World descended would lead to a period of weakness. For other gods, this period was the best time for Gari, and under normal circumstances, recovering a split soul without resources took a very long time.

Take Sean, for example: if he had become a god on the Zhongyuan Continent, such a commotion would inevitably have been discovered by other gods or even the Darkness Church. Hiding would have been difficult, and there would have been a certain probability of falling.

Therefore, many people still chose to become gods within their bodies, especially those who only had one talent or whose second talent was very poor.

The benefit of choosing the outside path lay in the future, but one had to survive long enough to enjoy those benefits. Not everyone was a protagonist; it was far more likely that after finally achieving godhood independently, one would simply hand a Godhead over to someone else.

Of course, even if one became a god within the body, such a possibility still existed.

If a Midgod suddenly discovered a stranger nearby who had just become a Lowgod, a ruthless person would certainly kill them to obtain the Godhead, then refine it for their friends or family. This was the most likely scenario.

And in the Coiling Dragon world, there was no shortage of ruthless people. Just like that death-attribute Midgod of the Darkness Church who slaughtered hundreds of millions of lives to refine Soul Golden Beads, in the Higher Planes, Saints were either treated as food or refined into Soul Golden Beads.

Therefore, manifesting the Miniature Plane Space served not only to accelerate cultivation but also to allow him to become a god silently at the edge of the Spatial Turbulence. Otherwise, if he were on the Zhongyuan Continent, choosing where to ascend would have been enough to give Sean a headache.

"Become a god outside the body." Sean voiced his decision to the Laws of the World.

"Ah!" Sean could not help but let out a scream of extreme agony. The intense pain caused every muscle in his body to twitch and spasm. At that moment, the soul deep within Sean's mind, under the embrace of the Laws of the World, actually split into two with a 'bang'.

The pain of a soul being split was ten thousand times worse than any physical torture.

After a long while, Sean finally regained his senses. Now, he could feel his soul existing in two different places, looking at each other as if gazing into a mirror.

"Rumble..." Through the Godhead, Sean immediately felt a connection to the legendary Elemental Ocean from the very depths of the Godhead.

As Saints and below, all people and magical beasts—whether practicing magic or battle qi—utilized the energy between heaven and earth. But once they reached the god level, they used the divine power from the Elemental Ocean.

The Godhead could be described as a door that could connect to the most mysterious Elemental Ocean of the Coiling Dragon world from anywhere. Whether it was a newly born Lowgod in a material plane or a supreme High Sovereign, it was the same; this was the most fundamental rule governing the entire world.

At this moment, Sean could feel ten meters deep into the Elemental Ocean. With a mere thought, he could draw divine power from it, though the speed was extremely, extremely slow.

Just then, a massive amount of divine power from the Elemental Ocean followed his Godhead into the plane space. Under the guidance of the Laws of the World, the vast amount of low-level divine power formed a body identical to Sean's without needing his control. The moment the body became a god, the Laws of the World withdrew their control, and the half of Sean's soul within the Godhead took command of the new body.

This was a very wondrous feeling. Two people sharing the same soul were like the left and right hands; the difference was that each had their own eyes and divine sense. The energy contained within the Lowgod clone was countless times greater than that of Sean's Saint-level original body, and there was also a new transformation in terms of his soul.

The power of the Laws of the World gradually faded, and the plane space returned to calm.

Sean did not rush to check the information and energy contained within the Godhead—these things wouldn't run away—but instead immediately communicated with the Coiling Dragon book within his body, instantly manifesting the two Soul Golden Beads that Linley had obtained from the Grand Wizard when he became a god in the Yulan Plane.

PS: A problem arose in the previous chapter, as pointed out by a reader: in the original work, that magic array was destroyed after Linley drew his sword. It wasn't in this book because I didn't pay attention to that detail earlier.

The plot required that spatial channel, not the remnants of the magic array. If I had known sooner, I would have just written that the spatial channel remained.

Now that it's already written, it would be a huge hassle to change it, so I've patched it up by saying it was caused by the difference in planes.

This isn't actually a major issue, but it might happen again later. When writing fanfiction, I certainly want to respect the original work, but there are many places where I cannot notice every detail, and everyone's understanding of the original work is different.

I can only say that I will try my best to ensure the major logic remains consistent with the original.

With today's ascension chapter, the subsequent plot can be considered to have begun. Although it is fanfiction, I will try my best to write some new stories and new characters, aside from the Sovereign and Grand Perfection figures that cannot be changed.