Chapter 59: Essence of a Divine Spirit

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Essence of a Divine Spirit

Chen Shang’s attacks were overwhelming. He was not alone; the Huluwas also displayed their unique abilities. Siwa acted as the main attacker due to his elemental advantage, while the others waited for the right opportunity to strike.

The Warriors operated like a precise war machine, shredding the nearby vines to pieces. However, the enemy would not surrender without a fight. They manipulated the vines to grow and spread madly, seemingly impossible to clear out completely.

That consciousness roared on the Spirit level, "Bastards! Even if you didn’t want to help me, you could have just gone your own way! Why turn against me?"

Chen Shang stepped back and sneered. "I came specifically for this throne. Besides, you harbor ill intentions. Did you really think I couldn’t tell?"

"Where was my flaw?" the consciousness roared, simultaneously directing the vines in a frenzied assault.

Roots burst from the underground rock walls and the ceiling, lunging at Chen Shang from all directions like countless hungry snakes. Luna Xiya activated her racial talent, similarly summoning fungal threads to entangle with the enemy.

Chen Shang swung Natural Fury, searching for the enemy’s weak point while trying to provoke its emotions. "You pitiful worm, if you could master Divine Arts, it would mean you had obtained a portion of the Divine Spirit’s memories.

"With that level of power, you could effortlessly leave this place using your residual Divine Power, and you could crush me with a single thought. Would you even need to waste your breath talking to me here?"

The Spirit fluctuations of that consciousness trembled violently. "You... how do you know so much about Divine Spirits? Just who exactly are you?!"

Taking advantage of the moment its Heart Spirit became unstable, Chen Shang blasted it with an Energy Ball, but failed to break through the throne’s Defense.

The Golden Crow popped up from his shoulder and shouted at the top of its lungs, "You uneducated country bumpkin! These things are all written in books, you idiot!" It turned its head and said to Yilu on its back, "Kid, do you see this? This is the consequence of not studying."

Yilu grabbed the Golden Crow’s feathers and nodded vigorously. "Yeah, yeah! Country bumpkin, country bumpkin!"

Chen Shang glanced at the little guy. He hadn’t even learned how to read all his words yet, and he was already mocking others? It seemed he couldn’t let this Golden Crow teach the Wood Spirit how to read.

However, the consciousness was truly enraged, becoming frantic and chaotic. "What books? What ’not studying’? You damn bird! I will kill you!"

The vines began to surge madly, lunging from all directions simultaneously like a green tsunami. The Golden Crow hurriedly hid behind Chen Shang again.

Chen Shang blocked the attacks. The Golden Crow was right; the Wizard education system did indeed contain detailed introductions to Divine Spirits. This was because it was an extremely powerful evolutionary system, as well as a system that had once been abandoned by Ancient Wizards.

Wizards categorized the creatures of the Endless Star Sea into Tiers One to Thirteen. However, underdeveloped civilizations usually developed Faith in powerhouses who wielded mighty abilities. Therefore, in many ignorant worlds, reaching Tier Four would cause one to be hailed as a Demigod by some natives, while Tier Six Creatures could be called True Gods.

A heavily injured Marcus who had fallen from Tier Four could wipe out all of Chen Shang’s Warriors; in the end, it still took the High Tower’s attacks to subdue him. Thus, if the consciousness before him could mobilize its residual Divine Power—even just a tiny sliver—Chen Shang would be utterly crushed.

If this world did not have a Wizard Tower, Chen Shang would never have risked searching for the residual Divine Power. A Divine Spirit was absolutely a walking natural disaster.

Why would such a powerful Cultivation System be abandoned by Wizards? Because They had a fatal flaw. A small section in the *Brief History of Wizard Civilization* had mentioned some of this.

Chen Shang recalled that article.

"Dear readers, greetings.

"I am the Ninth Level Great Wizard of the Contract Ring, Gresifor. Out of rigor and respect for history, I shall be the one to write a small fraction of the Chapters on the Second Age.

"I must say that the Second Age of Wizard Civilization, which is now known as the era of the Dispute of Faith, was the most dangerous crossroad for the Wizard Civilization. Had we chosen wrongly, we would have faded into mediocrity like the vast majority of races in the Endless Star Sea, or we would have borne the ignorant and foolish ’divine names’ until our extinction.

"As everyone knows, during the middle and late stages of the First Age, in order to combat the savage beasts, some of our ancestors ignited Divine Fire. This method served as the mainstay in fighting those savage beasts, but it was also a hidden trap that limited self-evolution, bringing tremendous hidden dangers to subsequent eras. This was because Their source of Power was simultaneously Their path to Destruction.

"To truly understand this era, one must first comprehend a single question—what is the essence of a Divine Spirit?

"If a modern Wizard were to answer this, they might give a very standard response: intelligent beings that absorb Faith to complete a life transition, master a portion of the rules, and gradually undergo Rule Assimilation. Because They master the rules, They are powerful; because They undergo Rule Assimilation, They lead Themselves to Destruction.

"However, this was not the reason that tore the Wizard Civilization apart. Therefore, I must say that the essence of a Divine Spirit is a high-entropy structure attempting to achieve localized entropy reduction; Their evolutionary mechanism is far too narrow.

"They rely on Faith to ignite Divine Fire, rely on Faith to master rules, and rely on Faith to become powerful. So where does Faith come from? It can only come from other intelligent lifeforms. Hence, from the very moment of Their birth, They are dependents, Vampires that naturally delineate a hierarchy—no matter how powerful They might be.

"This is the essence of a Divine Spirit. Expecting the Divine Spirits within the Wizard Civilization to eliminate reverse entropy is ridiculous; expecting those who have become Gods to show mercy to other intelligent lifeforms is even more pathetic. Because when They ignite Their Divine Fire, They strip away Their original life characteristics, and They inevitably desire to siphon everything from the lives around Them. This is irreversible.

"Thus, this inevitably caused a massive conflict with the original path of the Wizards. Wisdom would not be developed, and talents would not be unleashed; instead, they would be reduced to nourishment for decayed existences. The civilization was in imminent peril.

"I am not slandering those predecessors who ignited Divine Fire. The situation back then was extremely critical, and they were all forced to be heroes. There were even far-sighted Divine Spirit ancestors who proposed becoming a God first to resolve the predicament of powerful enemies, and then stripping away the Divine Power to return to normal.

"However, from the perspective of latecomers, the world is organic.

"One or two Divine Spirits, relying on superb morality and resolute Will, might have a chance to resist the erosion of the rules. However, Divine Spirits as a whole would be continuously corrupted and undergo Rule Assimilation. It could never be stripped away so easily.

"Here, I must thank our civilization’s hero, Mr. Lit Wit. We will forever remember that it was not by relying on his vast Magic Spring or his superb Witchcraft skills, but by relying on his outstanding foresight and extremely calm judgment that he pointed out the path for the Wizard Civilization.

"And that was to abandon the path of the Divine Spirit and use wisdom to leverage the rules for evolution!

"He helped us confirm a truth: long-term wisdom is superior to Power gained through short-sighted greed. This also laid the foundation for the subsequent Wizard’s Will.

"Because we all know that in the next era, we encountered a terrifying extraterrestrial civilization. If we had not abandoned the Pantheon evolutionary path in time, we would not have been able to learn enough in that war to emerge victorious.

"So, Wizards, do I still need to elaborate on the fate of the losers?"