In the middle of the devastated battlefield, Michael kneeled in apprehension. He saw the remaining of Charles' army charge towards the bloody old man and saw them being slaughtered like chickens. Lupin was also part of the group. The celestial ascendant that had given Michael great trouble in battle had been destroyed in body and soul with a single slap from the old man.
Yupp, this old man is beyond my level. I don't have any tricks to play here. I wish I had taken training from Ambrose on bootlicking! But now is too late for regrets!
Michael said at the end of the slaughter:
> Michael : Your Excellency, you have graced us with your presence! Please tell me what you are called and what orders you have for me. My men and I hold not a single shred of enmity or malice against you, please have mercy!
The old man looked at Michael and his eyes shined. He replied
> Rizlant : I am known as Rizlant. You are pretty sensible. Tell me, where is this?
>
> Michael : Lord Rizlant, this is the country of Pelvermore under the jurisdiction of Church of Mercy. We are currently to the extreme north of its boundaries.
>
> Rizlant : Hmm. Looks like the space storm threw me away quite far. I can see that you are a psychic cultivator. Also a dao cultivator! Who is your teacher?
>
> Michael : Lord, I don't have a formidable teacher. I did have a few teachers early on but they were only condensation realm experts. I have been cultivating independently for a long time. I was trying to take the entrance test of Divine Sea Sect to find a suitable teacher and gather resources for my future cultivation.
>
> Rizlant : How did you become a psychic cultivator?
>
> Michael : I obtained an incomplete legacy and trained myself night and day.
Michael: This is good! This guy is not a madman and is not slaughtering wantonly. As long as he agrees to leave, I will immediately leave this god-forsaken plane!
Rizlant looked at the kid with a nostalgic expression. He was also a lone wolf, lacking background. In those days, he had gone through hell and heaven to learn cultivation. This kid with green eyes was a good seed. He was a supreme genius, even more than Rizlant himself. This guy was also cultivating the dao path. This was something that Rizlant did not have.
Rizlant: This guy can be a good pawn! I am in a dangerous situation. The divinities of the Divine Sea Sect will not be sitting quietly. There is no time to go back to the formation. I need to begin the reincarnation ritual before it is too late.
> Rizlant : Very well, kid. I am going to give you an opportunity. I will plant a psychic seed in your psyche. It will essentially make you my slave. If need be, the seed will sprout and you will cease to exist. And the seed can sprout with a single thought of mine. If you agree to this, I will let you live and let all your men go. If not, then I can only kill you all to silence you!
>
> Michael (after a short pause) : I accept it!
>
> Rizlant : Good! You are decisive, you will go far in the world.
Following this, Rizlant planted his psychic seed in his mind. Rizlant could forcefully plant the seed in most cases but this guy was a psychic and could resist. It would damage the seed. Thus, he needed the guy to cooperate. Surprisingly, the guy decided to accept the seed without any convincing. As expected of a lone cultivator who had seen life and death situations. Once the seed was planted, Rizlant sighed in relief. He could have killed everyone here but then, he would have had to do the reincarnation ritual by himself. That could be very dangerous. The ritual was not exactly safe. He needed a guard to control. After this, he said:
> Rizlant : Listen young man, I am going to perform an urgent ritual. This ritual is very essential and anything mustn't go wrong. If anyone tries to disturb me, you are to stop them and protect me. I will take you in my retinue and help you in further cultivation if you prove your loyalty right now!
>
> Michael (with gleaming eyes) : Rest assured master! The remaining ones are mostly my men. None will be able to trespass as long as I am here.
Saying so, Michael went over to his surviving soldiers and had them form a perimeter around him. Rizlant then heaved a sigh as he prepared himself. Then, without wasting any time, he started his ritual. This was a psychic ritual and it contained his lifetime worth of studies. He summoned his psychic world - the world of memories. All world masters could form their unique worlds. Using his psychic energy, Rizlant could make a world of memories. This was his world that he had created, all so that he could master reincarnation. The ritual design was simple - the world of memories could hold all his memories. These memories would also contain his will and his core. This was something that took time but Rizlant had made preparations. Soon, his core and will started separating from his conscient and getting infused into his world of memories. This was the first step of the ritual. It seemed like a long time to Rizlant but he eventually managed to form the world of memories that contained himself. The remaining of his conscient contained his boundless psychic energy and other imprinted psychic abilities. At the centre of his conscient, there was a small ball that was the world of memories.
Rizlant: Now comes the hard part!
Taking over another conscient was not easy. He needed to transfer this world of memories to the target conscient. This would very hard as the world itself was a creation of his psychic energy. One needed psychic energy to maintain it. Rizlant looked around and saw Michael attentively looking over the ritual.
Rizlant: As if he would be able to understand at his level!
Rizlant was not worried about the new slave as the guy was now under his control. The seed would activate with a single thought. Not something that one can resist. He then slowly proceeded to transfer his world of memories to the target conscient. He made a tunnel of psychic energy connecting his conscient to the target conscient. As long as the world of memories went over, he would dissipate it. This would release his will, core and memories in the other conscient. This would lead to a fight between the will power of the original core and the new core. But Rizlant had made preparations. The girl was in a deep slumber and would not wake up easily. Rizlant would be able to snuff out her core easily. Then, he would need to organise the original memories and the borrowed memories and the reincarnation would be successful. This was one of the reasons he chose a young conscient. The original memories would not be able to overwhelm him. Rizlant had lived for several million years and the impact of 13 years on him would be bearable.
One should not compare the values of these memories directly. The original memories were tightly engraved on the conscient and were extremely potent while Rizlant would only be able to bring over a copy of his memories through the world of memories. His original memories would be left in his old conscient. Thus, he would be able to remain himself after the reincarnation. But if he decided to take over a cultivator with thousand years worth of memory, he would end up being irreversibly changed. This was not something that he wanted. The reincarnation method that he had devised was extremely complicated and worked with a very low chance. But once it was a success, it was true reincarnation and not possession. There would be no problem of lifespan or the compatibility between body, soul and conscient. Rizlant could almost see success in front of him when another drill of psychic energy smashed into the tunnel that he had created! Rizlant felt as if his world was trembling!
Boundless rage gripped him as he traced the source of this attack to the green-eyed guy. He immediately activated the psychic seed. But then, he saw something that he did not want to believe! The boy had destroyed half his conscient! A huge gaping rift had been created in his conscient! Rizlant had never seen anything like it, in all the years that he had lived. First of all, if a conscient was destroyed that bad, the person should not be able to live a single moment. Besides, how do you injure a conscient like that? Perhaps only divinities could do so. He did not understand what was going on! He saw as the green-eyed kid gave him a terrifying smile before his tunnel was broken through. Rizlant knew that he was in trouble!
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Michael had agreed to get a psychic seed. There was no other choice. But Michael was not ignorant like before. With "acceleration", he could analyse his situation in much greater detail. He could feel that this skeleton guy needed him to something. After all, this Rizlant was an upper-ascendant. If he wanted, he could have killed Michael in the beginning. Or if he felt like it, he could simply let him go. There was no reason for him to ask for Michael's subservience unless he did not need it. Thus, he had accepted the seed for the time being. More importantly, Michael had already encountered this seed twice! One time with the celestial at Dead Sea Sect's martial competition and other time the devouring clan member at the preliminary round. He had his theories but now, he easily figured out everything.
Michael: It seems like this old man planted many pawns in the tests. Some of them would have come here with him and they had some role to play. But then, knowing Alexis' blessing, something happened and he was teleported here with her. Now, he is short on time and has something important to do.
Michael had been extremely terrified when he had seen the condition of the earlier two victims and he had thought of many ways to counter this situation should it ever occur to him. Initially, he did not have much confidence, but after he achieved self-command, he was confident. He had learned how to damage his own conscient! This would be pure suicide for anyone else except Michael who had the recovery attribute and could heal his conscient. As Michael had kept himself hidden from the pawns, Rizlant had no inkling that Michael could nullify his technique. Also, this was a technique of a world-master and no one would believe if Michael said he could break the technique.
Most importantly, Rizlant had been disoriented when he left the spatial rift and had not been able to observe Michael. In that time, Michael had already shrunk back his willpower making it so that he was no different from before. Never in his wildest dream would Rizlant have thought that Michael would have self-command. Thinking all this, Michael accepted the seed. Afterwards, he looked at the ritual with great concentration.
Initially, he planned to agree to this old man but vanish later after taking care of the seed. The law ocean was huge, so how would the man find him?
But, as Michael watched the ritual, he became extremely nervous. Michael could see the things that were happening because he was a psychic cultivator as well. He became incredibly tensed as he watched Rizlant perform the ritual. Michael was truly awed by the masterful use of psychic energy by this guy. He observed the situation closely. Michael already had an inkling about Rizlant's motives but he became sure as soon as the ball containing his core moved to the psychic tunnel. Michael decisively blasted the seed out of his conscient, opening a huge rift! Even with recovery attribute, this would need some time to heal. Normally, the conscient would dissolve by then but Michael had already achieved self-command. This was no problem.
Then, using his psychic ability, he hammered the tunnel. It took him a few tries before breaking the tunnel. Had the guy kept his will and his core in his conscient, Michael would have been no match. But he was controlling it from outside his conscient. There was no way he would be able to keep the same level of power. Grasping the ball with his psychic energy, Michael wanted nothing more to crush the ball and kill this bastard for good. But, at that moment, he felt his intuition act up. He could feel that this could be a great fortune! The ball was dissipating and not much time was left. Making a swift decision, he smashed the ball back into his mind!
Rizlant would never for the life of him have imagined that the fool would try to consume the memory world. While he was scared of the conscient of the kid as he was functioning with a rift in his mind, he thought that this guy might be one of the chosen ones of divinities who had special treasures. He immediately became happy that fate was giving him another chance! While this guy did not have a divine bloodline, his background was not simple. Also, he had great talent. Rizlant could make do with that. Given that this guy was only fifty-some years old, the memories were not an issue either.
As soon as the memory world entered the conscient, it dissipated. Rizlant immediately sent over his willpower trying to gain control over the conscient's territory. But the boy's willpower refused to budge! No matter how hard he pushed, it was solid like an infinite wall. He could not gain a single inch! He was now surrounded by the kid's willpower on all sides and could not do anything!
Rizlant: I am in trouble! Let's use memories! I will start diffusing my memories. It will distract him. His memories would diffuse to my side as well. But it will only be for fifty-some years.
As the memory diffusion started, Rizlant went through Michael's life in reverse order. He saw Michael coming to the plane, then how he attained self-command and how he passed the different tests. He saw the legacy of wisdom emperor and Aterna. After looking at the Wisdom Emperor's legacy, he was incredibly happy!
Rizlant: Yes! The fabled legacy of the Wisdom Emperor! This is the key to Spirit Temple! I can't believe my good fortune! Hahaa!! I Rizlant will become a psychic god!
The life rewound as he saw everything that Michael had experienced.
Rizlant: Hmm, this Ashley girl is sexy! Very well, after I get this body, I will go to his home plane and get that girl. Her seal is pretty useful but who would use a seal this crude. This daddy here will show you how a psychic seal is made!!
Rizlant saw up to Michael's birth. The memories were extremely powerful and for these 50 years of memory, he had to use tens of thousands of years of memory in return. But then, the memories did not stop and were continuing. The willpower was still steady and Rizlant could not even stop the memory diffusion. As the memories continued, Rizlant started going through Michael's experience in the womb and finally saw his rebirth.
Rizlant: !!! This guy is associated with such a powerful divinity? But there is no one so powerful in the entire dominion! According to legends, only true gods can turn back time. Nine-star divinities also have a chance. Others can only depend on circumstances but still, one needs to be a high-rank divinity. Could he be connected to true gods?
Rizlant grew wary but soon, he was not in a position to think anymore.
Pain! Terrifying, soul-crushing pain! Pain that would want one to die from a thousand cuts! Pain that would cause cultivators and divinities to lose their grace and wail like mortals!
Rizlant wanted to scream but as a conscient, he could only think. The memory was so intense and there was nothing he could do. He gritted his imaginary teeth as he continued to watch further. But no matter how far he watched, the torture did not seem to end!
100 years!
200 years!
500 years!
1000 years!
By this time, Rizlant's willpower had dried up. Soon, his core cracked and imploded ending the life of the greatest psychic in Oceania domain. Even till his dying breath, he was cursing his fate. He had died a horrible death.
Michael did not feel much after pushing the ball of psychic energy into his conscient. He could feel Rizlant's willpower pushing for control but it was laughable against Michael. If he wanted, he could have crushed Rizlant's core with a push. But he waited. Soon, he felt Rizlant's memories try to intrude his mind. If he wanted, he could have stopped this diffusion but he did not. Soon, he started going through the old man's memories. And it was the true treasure trove! While the memories were hazy and almost intangible, these were the memories of a bonafide psychic world-master. Michael went through the memory diffusion process for a long time. He saw through the memory of millions of years! It was not like when he had seen his own life, where every memory was deeply ingrained in his mind, this was a fickle memory. But the benefits manifested themselves instantaneously.
After Michael got over the diffusion process, he noticed that only a few hours had passed. He checked himself and found that he had reached peak great-master attainment in psychic manipulation! This was an incredible gift!
If Michael had gone through traditional training, it would have taken him around a thousand years, even if he focussed on psychic energy manipulation intensely. But now, he had directly jumped to this level! He had already mastered the basic uses of psychic energy and now could start exploring his path. If he could find his path, he would be able to reach the grandmaster realm. Then, he would be a bonafide psychic cultivator acknowledged in the whole dominion. Psychic world-masters were rarely seen in the world. One of them was enough for overlord divinities to act, even if it was only the chance of getting one to join. Even grandmasters were treated with respect equivalent to rank-8 ascendants! The status of a peak great-master psychic was higher than law masters!
This was not completely based on the rarity of psychics but also strength. With this upgrade, Michael's strength while using all his psychic abilities had jumped by a huge amount! If he used will manifestation now, he would be able to defeat divine children! Considering his other skills, he was now more terrifying than many law masters! Also, as he now gained many techniques from the old man, his strength would increase drastically. Even Michael did not know how strong he would become once he completely digested the fruits of today's labour.
Also, Michael figured out the entire plot through Rizlant's memory. He had foiled a scheme of a seven-star divinity! This gave him a sense of accomplishment much greater than defeating divine children. His dao tree grew after a long time of inactivity and soon, it was no longer a small sapling but a grown plant.
While he did not defeat divine children, he did manage to save one's life. This could be cashed for many resources! Thinking all this, Michael immediately left the area with whatever remained of his army. He marched the remaining soldiers over to the Church of Mercy. The battle had been terrifying and the entire plane was in an uproar. But Michael after making sure that Ambrose and Denise were in safe hands, immediately went into seclusion.