Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'-Chapter 1268 - 267: Empire Line: Toward the [Spiritual Deer] Ending (62)_2

The [Scholar] faction, led by Lyle, didn't really support Gaia's actions. They also believed that the Starry Abyss was too vast to fully conquer, and that peaceful coexistence was the real answer.

Of course, perhaps this "peace" should be put in quotes.

[Scholar] Lyle had always been committed to liberating more [Society] citizens from within, achieving freedom. He seemed to have established some contact with certain cosmic entities that could communicate but not be touched.

But considering that if Gaia hadn't disappeared quietly, Lyle might never have had the chance to establish his own faction, it's hard to say whether he would continue this endeavor once Gaia truly returned.

At least, Arthur didn't believe so.

Even though Lyle's stance was clearly sympathetic to the Starry Abyss Side, and Lyle himself had parted ways, it was meaningless to Arthur. His existence was to resolve the issue of Goddess Charlgarnia's identity and history being stolen by Redd Gold.

And Lyle couldn't achieve that.

Even if, Zhang Fulong's stance was clearly on Anpolo's team, and even if it was known that the [Emperor] had his eye on Lord Leoz because of concerns that this person, once deliberately released by the Secret, didn't resist the Starry Abyss as expected but instead attempted to drive the Secret out even more aggressively.

Anpolo's concern was undoubtedly justified.

Because after reincarnating in the Starry Abyss, even when he was still a mortal, Leoz began massacring [Society] citizens.

On Azure Star, Leoz continuously mobilized forces to completely cleanse the influence of the [Forged Society] and the [Secret Society].

It should be known that the population of Azure Star was carefully selected by the Secret, similar to Earthlings, with reproductive isolation not severe, being a new era of Homo Sapiens. Even if not of the C3 Luca Type Cosmic Species, the probability of being corrupted by the Secret was high.

And what cost Leoz paid to eradicate the Secret's influence and purify all Secret traces...

...remains unknown.

At least, Zhang Fulong mentioned that on his last task, the Secret lost three senators.

Although it couldn't really be called a loss.

The Speaker of [Society] was mostly unique, but the senators were almost always replaceable, plentiful in reserve, just to ensure that if someday the actual body and core Speaker were trapped outside without senators around, they wouldn't be attacked by others. They simply preemptively copied the recruited senators, so as long as a suitable body was found, an original senator could be generated on the spot.

This fungal-like reproduction trait was exactly one aspect of [Society] as a biological entity.

Zhang Fulong completed many secret tasks, most of which involved finding senators for the Secret, but the last time not only was he unsuccessful, he heavily lost three template senators.

And that mission took place during the Lord Entropy war period on Azure Star.

It should be said that Redd Gold observed and meticulously researched Leoz's growth trajectory after reincarnation and provided much guidance, often seeking advice on how to proceed better.

But during the Lord Entropy incident, no one could see clearly what really happened.

They knew Leoz had at least two bodies, one facing Lord Entropy, and one on Azure Star's ground battlefield, where it was intercepted by three Secret senators.

Leoz's incarnation defeated the three senators and seized the [Blacksmith] position.

Although Zhang Fulong didn't state it outright, Arthur already guessed.

Even the [Emperor] Anpolo was likely shocked by such events.

Leoz, in a mortal body, relying on an incarnation, took the [Blacksmith] position, one of the two most adept at offensive and kill seats of the Secret.

Such news would shock anyone.

In countless past years, the Secret Council perhaps declined, nearly disbanded, once forced into internal strife by Leoz.

However, no one questioned the potent toxicity of Ether Blood and the assimilative ability of Ether.

During the Abyssal Outer Universe period, because of the confrontation between Leoz and the Secret, almost everyone got involved, rendering class division meaningless. For a long time, in the World Beyond the Abyss, there was no clear division of strength; only the [Society] side introduced a 'Reforging' system.

Reforging had ten levels.

According to Arthur's understanding, Redd Gold, Anpolo, and Lyle had reached the ninth-level reforging standard during the Abyssal Outer Universe period.

It wasn't that their Talent had reached its limit and couldn't go further, but that the final reforging material for the three [Collector], [Emperor], and [Scholar] was the three Destroyers invading the Starry Abyss.

Even so, figures reforged nine times had essentially entered the realm of 'concepts'.

Actually, Zhang Fulong once revealed that after entering the Starry Abyss, the growth speed of [Secret Society] Professionals was incredibly fast. If placed in a cosmic environment, the proliferation speed of Ether Blood was astonishingly fast, requiring only forty-something hours to theoretically progress from a Professional at the Limit Threshold to an eighth-level reforging.

However, even in the deep Mass Abyss universe, without any upper limit, the environment most suitable for Professional growth, those able to advance to ninth-level reforging were scarce throughout history.

Ninth-level reforged beings had already obtained the nature of concepts, making them indestructible by conventional means.

This was identical to the deities of the Starry Abyss Side.

After reaching the God Embracer level, the Starry Abyss Side deities also began to merge into concepts, becoming hard to eliminate.

Only extremely powerful beliefs can imprint their own insignia in the cosmos of the creator.

Although the Starry Abyss Pathways were divided into factions, when reaching the God Embracer level, their hand would bear an imprint. To achieve greatness, they must imprint the cosmos.

Humans, deities, and [Secret Society] citizens all became immortal by leaving an imprint in this universe.

The foundation of the Secret Society wasn't in their ability to support 3 Speakers, 13 Senators, 72 Jury members, and 666 citizens all reaching the ultimate reforging, equaling the limit of a Chief God at their peak.

It was that while reaching this level, they could still possess the ultimate reforging-level Ultimate Ether Blood!

It was the most intense poison in the world; even the dead could be killed again, and spacetime would decay.

On the Beyond-Abyss Battlegrounds, most Spiritual Warriors didn't die at the hands of Secret senators' brute force, but were affected by poison blood, their divine power contaminated, then defiled in their Divine Souls, their consciousness infiltrated with chaos, subjected to timeless torment and Pain.

But, what if there were no Ether Blood?

—In top-tier battles, the Secret's population wasn't enough.

Perhaps the Secret could muster a team of 3 Speakers, 13 Senators, and other quasi-supreme god-level forces, but what about the numbers?

At best, there were just over seven hundred people.

The Starry Abyss Spiritual Warriors, having reached this level, numbered at least tens of thousands!

What if Ether Blood's Strength couldn't affect the Starry Abyss Divine Clan?

Or, the Starry Abyssal Spirit that Ether Blood couldn't poison was Leoz?

The thing Anpolo feared the most had eventually occurred, even worse than expected.

Redd Gold once said, after Gaia won, choosing to forgive and exile Leoz wasn't because they underestimated Leoz's Strength, but because Gaia had absolute confidence in her own ability and believed that Leoz could create larger trouble in the Starry Abyss.

The truth turned out to be... right?

At least for now, it seems Leoz no longer serves the Primordial Abyss and has established his own faction; Lai Anding is the real Chief God, while Leoz seems intent on eliminating Lai Anding.

…Wait?

Arthur suddenly sensed something was amiss. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

If Leoz had already targeted Lai Anding, logically speaking, Anpolo shouldn't be worried.

This was obviously a case of dog-eat-dog, so why did he send Zhang Fulong to monitor Leoz?

Or—did Anpolo believe Leoz to be a greater threat than Lai Anding?

At this thought, Arthur felt a pang of unease.

For a moment, he began to doubt if what he was doing was right, but soon he suppressed this with his unwavering faith in the Goddess.

Like figures from Earth myth, he had opened Pandora's box, releasing some terrifying creature.

It wasn't Anpolo but Leoz.