Chapter 380 Just like what the old sages said before: Let“s kill it with fire!
The actions that the threaded cultivators were doing were neither aggressive nor defensive. What they were doing right now was an extremely submissive action that anyone can easily identify.
The threaded cultivators were currently bowing in supplication, with the focus of their bows concentrated on the Mountain of Enlightenment.
Instead of being controlled to wreak havoc, the threaded cultivators were commanded to bow for the Mountain of Enlightenment.
Their faces were not filled with anger or disgust as they did these actions. Instead, their faces were extremely reverent, as if the bows that they were doing now were the most sacred thing that they can ever do.
Nothing, not even the presence of the nearby Queen Mother was enough to stop these threaded Immortals from what they were doing.
"…"
Upon seeing these bows that were full of reverence, Queen Mother took a deep breath as she remembered herself receiving the same bows from her monster children.
Her eyes flashed with nostalgia once more before she forcefully suppressed it.
"It is similar, but also not similar…" Queen Mother muttered to herself as she focused her attention on the heads of the threaded cultivators. "The bows that these threaded cultivators were doing were not just meant to honor the mountain… They were also meant to supply a unique kind of power!"
Right at the foreheads of the threaded cultivators, Queen Mother witnessed varying amounts of Soul Power pouring straight on the connected threads.
Each time that the cultivators made a bow, more and more Soul Power goes out of their foreheads, which the threads continue to take.
All of these Soul Power were brought by the threads towards the Silver Orb, which receives them with frightening efficiency.
The Silver Orb seemed to be a Soul-Type Black Hole right now, as it continued to devour all the Soul Power fed to it without any hints of slowing down.
Its size, color, shape, and appearance did not change at all, as if the effects of the Soul Power that it just devoured now had no effect on it.
Fortunately for these threaded cultivators, the amount of Soul Power obtained from them seemed to be at a minimum level, which keeps them all on a stable state (one can say that they are still alive, although further extraction of Soul Power might lead to a worse situation).
To anyone who can see this process now, they might think that this Soul Power Extraction Process was inefficient, as the amount of Soul Power gathered from the threaded cultivators in front of Queen Mother was just too paltry to even make a difference.
However, Queen Mother can immediately dispute this point just by showing the scenery at the sky right now.
"…"
Queen Mother slowly looked up at the sky as she remembered the words spoken by the haughty speaker earlier.
"That person said that in order to commence their ritual properly, they must be able to communicate with all the cultivators. That task in itself was hard, but the presence of this Silver Orb mitigates all of that difficulty." Queen Mother thought to herself as she observed the million threads in the sky that are still spreading everywhere.
"There"s no doubt about it. These threads are meant to pierce the foreheads of every cultivator in this world." Queen Mother muttered to herself as she decided to ignore the threaded cultivators in front of her. "As for why all of them were needed to be threaded, the reason for that was already obvious: The Immortals need a lot of Soul Power to do their ritual, and the best source of Soul Power in this world will be naturally from the cultivators themselves!"
After she made this declaration, Queen Mother enhanced her senses as she looked at the threads in the sky with more scrutiny.
There, Queen Mother observed the crazy amounts of Soul Power that are now pouring through the almost 1 million threads.
Unlike the Soul Power gathered from earlier, the Soul Power coursing through these million threads were scarily gigantic, that no sane person will try to make contact with it.
The Silver Orb quickly devoured this ma.s.sive amount of Soul Power like a cup of soup, not leaving even a drop of it on the floor.
The Silver Orb then started to wiggle on the spot, as if the sudden influx of power that it received has now affected it.
It was then that the second wave of the Soul Power arrived from the million threads, which the Silver Orb naturally devoured once more.
This new batch made the Silver Orb wiggle in a more frantic pace, making it look like a liquid mercury ball that was being shaken at a high frequency.
Waves and waves of more Soul Power were continued to be supplied by the threads without any stop, which made the Silver Orb close to the point of bursting.
It was an eerie sight to see for anyone, especially for the TimeMasters who seemed to have no idea on what was happening.
"…"
Instead of looking curious at the current state of the Silver Orb, Queen Mother only frowned heavily, as the sight of this wiggling ball has confirmed the worst of her suspicions.
And to make matters even bleaker, the haughty speaker from earlier started talking again, saying the words that Queen Mother were dreading to hear now.
[[[[THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD WERE BIRTHED BECAUSE OF THE EXISTENCE OF US CULTIVATORS. IF IT WERE NOT FOR US, THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD WOULD NEVER GROW, LEST EVEN EXIST! MY FELLOW CULTIVATORS, OUR SOULS WERE THE REASON FOR THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD! IT WAS OUR SOULS THAT SUPPORTED THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD ALL THE TIME! BUT EVEN WITH ALL OF THESE BENEFITS THAT OUR SOULS GAVE TO IT, THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD STILL BETRAYED US! THAT… THAT IS A GREAT SIN THAT WE MUST NEVER FORGIVE!]]]
"…"
[[[IT IS THE FAULT OF THOSE TIMEMASTERS THAT THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD HAS BETRAYED US. BECAUSE OF THEM, THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD LEFT US, BOTH BROKEN AND ABANDONED. WE WERE LEFT TO FEND ON OUR OWN, AND WE WERE THE ONES BLAMED FOR OUR WEAKNESS. DO YOU ALL UNDERSTAND THE IRONY HERE? WE WERE TREATED LIKE WE WERE JUST TRASH IN OUR HOMELAND! THERE"S NOTHING WORSE THAN THAT!]]]
"…"
[[[BUT MY FELLOW CULTIVATORS, THERE IS NO MORE NEED TO DESPAIR NOW! FOR TODAY, WE SHALL FIX ALL THE WRONG THINGS THAT THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD HAS DONE! WE, BY THE USE OF THE POWER OF OUR SOULS, SHALL HEAL THE WORLD SOUL! WE SHALL MAKE IT REALIZE ITS REAL PURPOSE IN LIFE! WE…. WILL PURIFY IT!]]]
[[[GLORY TO THE IMMORTALS!]]]
"So the reason that the TimeMasters had won in the war before was because someone from them has managed to convince the World Soul to change the Laws in this world." Queen Mother murmured as she did nothing to stop the continuous arrival of the Soul Power. "Because of the stringent nature of a World Soul, this changing of the Laws had surely injured the World Soul, which explains its weakened state right now. This scenario is a bad news for the Immortals, as not only the World Soul was injured, its allegiance was also tied to the TImeMasters, who should be the World Soul"s actual enemies…"
Queen Mother then looked at the World Soul at the peak of the mountain, who was looking at the wiggling Silver Ball with fear and hunger in her eyes. Queen Mother bit her lips as she saw this, as she was now more unsure on what to do.
"The existence of a World Soul is closely tied to the souls of every living thing that resides on it." Queen Mother slowly said as she started walking back to her monster army. Her footsteps were heavy, as if the thoughts inside her mind were slowing her down right now. "The existence of the souls of the living things dictate the existence of the World Soul, and any changes on them can have an effect on the World Soul itself."
"What the Immortals are doing right now is an application of that principle." Queen Mother said as she shook her head. "By gathering the pure Soul Power of every cultivator in this world, the Immortals can use this power to change the World Soul. As long as they have the right amount of Soul Power with them, not only can they heal the injured World Soul, they can also make it undergo a "purification" process, which will surely make it go back to its "Cultivator-supportive" personality!"
"This is the "Ritual" that were planned by the Immortals. They knew after their loss from the TimeMasters that they won"t win through a straight battle. The only way that they can win is by seizing back the World Soul and make it their ally again! Only if they do this that they will have a chance of beating the TimeMasters for good!"
Queen Mother stopped walking at this point as she looked back at the World Soul.
The World Soul now looked to be in an extremely pitiful state, as she was doing her best to run away from the Silver Orb.
These attempts of hers to run however was futile, as her body was not listening to her.
Her body was slowly drifting towards the Silver Orn, and there was nothing that the World Soul can do to stop it.
"This World Soul might not want to be healed and purified, but her body was saying a different thing." Queen Mother muttered to herself with solace as she watched the World Soul"s futile attempts to leave.
"If the Immortals were doing a ritual to harm her, this World Soul can easily leave the ritual. But what the Immortals were doing right now is an attempt to help her. Even if she does not want it, her body will have no choice but to accept it, as a ma.s.sive heaping of pure Soul Power was something that an injured World Soul badly needs…"
The conflict inside Queen Mother"s mind became more and more chaotic as she suddenly found herself facing another dilemma right now.
"If Alex told me to disrupt this ritual, should I really disrupt this ritual? If I disrupt this ritual, the World Soul will be able to retain her personality, but that will rob her of her chance to be healed. I am not sure… if that is something that I can do. But if I do not disrupt the ritual, the World Soul will surely be a different person. That… is essentially a murder, and I am not sure if I can also allow that to happen."
If Queen Mother can spit out blood right now, she could have done it already, as her current situation was not something that she can just easily handle.
"Alex… you better come up with a good plan for this situation! And you better make it fast!" Queen Mother snarled as she cracked her knuckles menacingly. She only had respect and deference to Alex before, although these emotions were now replaced by both impatience and irritation.
"And as for you Asteria, you better do something good right now! The ritual has started already, and yet you still had not done anything useful! What the h.e.l.l are you doing inside there actually?"
*****************
INSIDE THE MOUNTAIN OF ENLIGHTENMENT
While Queen Mother was literally about to have a meltdown in anxiety, someone inside the Mountain of Enlightenment was also experiencing torrential emotions, although these emotions were nothing related to anxiety.
"Hoomans sure know how to cook. This honey-glazed peanut b.u.t.ter sandwich that the cook made is definitely a treasure!" Asteria shouted out in bliss as she slowly devoured a sandwich which she was holding in her hands.
Her face was filled with pleasure as she appeared to be only focused on eating her sandwich.
She seemed to not care on what was happening around her, and she seemed to not even notice the start of the ritual itself.
Even the loud words spoken by the haughty speaker were all ignored by Asteria.
Right now, there was only one thing that existed for Asteria, and that was the honey-glazed peanut b.u.t.ter sandwich on her hands.
There was nothing else that was more important than this sandwich, and she must do everything that she can do in order to properly savor it!
"Nom nom nom…"
It was only when she finished her sandwich that the dumb fairy remembered what she was supposed to do.
"Ah… QM told me to do something useful here. Why did I even forget that? Oh right, it was because of the sandwich!" Asteria muttered to herself innocently as she knocked her forehead. "Ehem, it seems like I missed out on a lot of things. It"s… not yet too late, right? Well maybe it"s not yet too late since the whole mountain is not yet exploding. Should I make the mountain explode? Hehehe, QM will surely be amazed by that!"