Before anyone could recover from their shock, Xushi continued:
"Of course, [Otsutsuki Shibai], after becoming a god, would not have been easy to deceive."
"So the soul I split off back then was only a very small fragment, containing even just intellect and awareness."
"I left all of the original spiritual desires and divinity within Ryushiki."
"That was why Xushi was extremely weak at the beginning."
"The clan's records are complete. They show that I spent a long time advancing step by step to the rank of demigod and climbing to the position of Elder."
"No one would ever associate me with that peerless [First Otsutsuki King]."
"And precisely because I lacked most of my spirituality and intellect, I always seemed free of desire and ambition. I had little talent for creation as well, and could not lead the entire Otsutsuki Clan toward a new path..."
"In a sense, I, Xushi, am both a new life and perhaps not a complete life."
"I merely inherited a portion of Ryushiki's will."
"But it was also thanks to that will that I persevered for hundreds of thousands of years..."
Hearing this, King Zhenruo, along with everyone else, was left somewhat dumbfounded.
Who could have imagined it?
The Chief Grand Elder, whose power towered over all and who had controlled half the Otsutsuki Clan from behind the scenes for hundreds of thousands of years, had actually been born this way?
He was actually a small alter ego of Ryushiki, the First Otsutsuki King?
Ahem...
That was not quite right either.
Considering Xushi's achievements and contributions, Ryushiki should be considered his alter ego instead.
And with such an immense span of time between them, their relationship was far too intricate to simply equate Ryushiki with Xushi.
It was probably more appropriate to regard them