Zhong Kui quickly took a leave of absence, publicly claiming that he was going to search for a rare medicinal herb to refine pills.
After he said this, most people in the Sun Moon Empire had nothing to say. Alchemists needed to gather materials, which many people could understand. Some materials were extremely rare and could be used to refine better pills, so no one objected.
More importantly, Zhong Kui was the greatest Alchemist in the entire Sun Moon Empire. People were still trying to curry favor with him; how could they possibly stop him? Besides, this was not something that harmed the Sun Moon Empire.
Jing Hongchen said nothing either. After all, he had become a Rank 95 Title Douluo thanks to Zhong Kui, so he was even less likely to stop him or investigate whether Zhong Kui was truly gathering precious medicinal herbs.
This was simply a matter of social etiquette.
Kong Deming was the same. Like Hall Master Hongchen, he had only become a Rank 95 Title Douluo because of Zhong Kui—especially the pills Zhong Kui had provided. Thus, Kong Deming would not stop Zhong Kui from leaving the Sun Moon Empire to gather precious medicinal ingredients.
Moreover, quite a few people had already learned to refine somewhat better medicines during this time.
Some could even instantly heal external wounds, such as cuts.
According to Zhong Kui, they had already reached the level of low-tier first-grade Alchemists.
Such abilities had many uses on the battlefield, so Zhong Kui had made enormous contributions to the Sun Moon Empire.
That was the privilege of a big shot with merits. At such a young age, with such immense achievements, who would stop him?
"By the way, I want to ask—what exactly are you planning to do?" Electrolux said within Zhong Kui's spiritual sea.
"I can sense that you have some purpose in going to the Far North this time. You're seeking some kind of opportunity, aren't you?"
"And you barely spoke along the way. You must have been calculating something. It seems like you want to seize someone's opportunity, just like back then, when I was supposed to possess that young man.
"My soul should have entered that young man's spiritual world, but you took it away instead.
"This operation wouldn't happen to be the same as that one, would it? Are you trying to seize someone else's opportunity?"
Electrolux truly deserved to be called a big shot. With just a few simple observations, he saw through Zhong Kui's intentions. Though he had not guessed everything correctly, he immediately realized that Zhong Kui was likely going to seize someone's opportunity.
Zhong Kui's goal this time was to take away the Ice Empress, ensuring that Huo Yuhao's second martial soul would no longer possess an Ice Jade Empress Scorpion martial soul of such extraordinary quality, one infinitely close to god-tier, as it had in the original novel.
If Huo Yuhao lost that martial soul, even whether he could become a god would be uncertain.
At the very least, Huo Yuhao's chances of becoming a god would be cut in half.
"Electrolux, I want to ask you something." Zhong Kui finally spoke.
"Go ahead. As long as it's something I can answer... but I have a feeling you want to tell me something instead."
"You truly are someone capable of becoming a god. If the gods of your world were not embodiments of rules, then if you became a god without becoming an existence like a rule, your limit in the Douluo world would be the peak of Rank-One God, perhaps even God King."
By saying this, Zhong Kui had no choice but to admit that Electrolux truly was a top-tier powerhouse among the characters written by [Tang Clan Universe Creation God Tang Jia San Shao].
Honestly, if Electrolux had not been written to death back then, perhaps this Creation God—and even Tang San, his own incarnation in his works—would have received a little less criticism.
"If the young man you possessed back then had been someone who appeared to be a hot-blooded youth willing to seek revenge, appeared to be humble and courteous, appeared to repay kindness, but was actually someone whose bones were steeped in feudal slave ideology—if he had already been tamed by someone else, do you think he would have helped you?"
"You mean, if I had not chosen you back then—or rather, if you had not existed—and I had chosen to possess that young man instead, what kind of ending would I have faced?"
Electrolux directly exposed what Zhong Kui wanted to say.
"That's right. His name is Huo Yuhao. In this world—or rather, this plane—he is the Child of Destiny of this era. His original mission should have been to help this world. He was born to resist a certain evil god, stop that evil god's parents from usurping the position of master of the Life Core Plane by oppressing the world, and at the same time help ease the relationship between soul beasts and humans.
"Otherwise, with his innate first-level Soul Power, how could he possibly become a god in the future without this world's fortune aiding him?
"That evil god saw that he possessed immense fortune and determined that he was the Child of Destiny. That was why he was willing to marry his daughter to him—the goal being to seize this world's fortune and completely turn this world into that evil god's private garden."
"According to what you're saying, if I had possessed that young man back then—possessed Huo Yuhao—I would definitely have caught that evil god's attention. Then I would surely have been eliminated, right?"
Electrolux's words practically stated his fate outright—he would be eliminated under Tang San's schemes.
"That is indeed how it would have been. An existence like you would have been his obstacle. If you had entered the God Realm with them, then you would have become an obstacle to that evil god controlling the God Realm and the continent.
"And that Child of Destiny would ultimately forget to help you, even though you could originally have been saved.
"Instead, he would forget about helping you and become immersed in his love with the evil god's daughter.
"He would even think he had married above his station.
"And in the original ending, the Soul Spirit system you created should have helped ease the relationship between humans and soul beasts. Yet because of the Spirit Pagoda he established, the circumstances of soul beasts became even more difficult."
Electrolux was truly speechless after hearing Zhong Kui's words. After learning some of the details about fortune, he found it utterly absurd as well.
"This old man has nothing more to say. I'll just work with you properly. I'm already aboard your pirate ship now, aren't I? This old man has no other choice, right?"
"That's right. That's exactly how it is. Do you think what I'm doing is right for you..."
"I think what you're doing is absolutely right. Now that I know the original ending, perhaps working with you is the only way to break the deadlock. What you're doing is right."
After hearing Electrolux say this, the last trace of guilt in Zhong Kui's heart disappeared. He had originally felt a bit guilty for forcibly bringing Electrolux into his mind, but now that guilt was completely gone.
"So how exactly are we going to seize this opportunity? You have to reveal something."
"What we're going to do this time is stop a powerful soul beast from becoming Huo Yuhao's Soul Ring and martial soul."
Before you continue