After bidding farewell to William and Barnier, Joshua's subsequent visits and inquiries also failed one after another.
"I don't know... I probably forgot."
"Probably a harmonious mind that is not affected by the outside world. As long as you can deal with all situations calmly and rationally, you can grasp the power of your mind and resist all external intrusions."
"I advanced during the Great Demon Tide. Lord, if you insist on telling me my specific feelings, I really don't know how to speak..."
"My Lord Earl, I'm not trying to deceive you, but I really can't describe that feeling in words."
Throughout the North, the holders of the Ultimate Soul who came from traveling or being hired were visited one by one by Joshua. Most of them were accidentally advanced due to the influence of the Great Demonic Tide. Although they did complete the sublimation, they The specific process was a little unclear. Some of them explained their experiences seriously, while others seemed not to want to talk about it. Joshua didn't care, and just told them that he was willing to exchange knowledge and skills of equal value. Don't treat them badly.
It wasn't until the soldier had no choice but to find some old friends that he gained something.
"The ultimate intention of the soul? It happened decades ago. Although there may be some errors in the details, the general outline should be correct."
In response to the soldier's inquiry, Nostradamus smiled and explained to Joshua the details of his initial advancement. The details were so clear that there were no mistakes or omissions like what he said, but the content was really confusing. Yan - According to Joshua's understanding, the old mage just meditated, and he made a breakthrough after meditating. Even if he clearly remembered the amount of dust around him when he advanced, there was nothing worth saying. As for Joshua's troubles with divinity, Nostradamus expressed that he could not help: "Your soul is already very strong, my friend, even if it is not to the limit, it is definitely very close. Even if you really reach the limit of the soul, Even the best intentions may not be able to resist its erosion."
Although they are very compatible in terms of personality, it is obvious that Nostradamus can't help Joshua in this regard. His only valuable words about Soul Ultimate are: "If we talk about the differences before and after awakening, , so before awakening, I felt that I was a whole 'soul and body', but after awakening, the body became somewhat irrelevant and was a part that could be discarded."
Although this statement sounded worthless, it gave Joshua a vague idea. He felt that he might have grasped a little bit of the context, but it was still not very clear. After thanking Nostradamus and saying goodbye, the warrior thought for a while before looking for the next person again, the last person in his plan.
"The ultimate meaning of the soul? My view of it is the 'unity of knowledge and action'. If you do this to the best, you can be called perfect and impeccable in your soul."
Through the communication spell, the Seven Gods Pope Eagle pondered for a moment. Regarding the soldier's question, he slowly replied: "Whether you have achieved the ultimate intention of the soul has no direct bearing on whether you can resist the erosion of divinity. Especially you, Joshua, you and your divinity are a bit too matched. , sometimes it is completely consistent with your thoughts - I suspect that the imperfection in your mind happens to be your self-doubt and resistance."
"In other words, the reason why you can still resist the erosion of divinity is precisely because you are not the ultimate soul."
"If people can't question themselves, how can they make progress? And this statement is too false."
Across the magic circle, Joshua shook his head. It was obvious that Eagle's words were starting to become a bit mysterious at this point, which was very different from his views. Joshua feels that the soul is just his second thinking organ besides the brain. Divinity is equivalent to some kind of unknown good and evil in the body, a mutation similar to cancer. It can bring vigorous vitality and strength, but it can also destroy The originally independent soul became the same as it. The ultimate intention of the soul is to train this organ to the limit, so that the soul itself has the resistance to resist changes and maintain its independence.
In other words, in Joshua's view, the soul, like muscles, can be exercised and made stronger. No matter how mysterious it is, it is nothing more than push-ups, sit-ups and long-distance running for the soul. He thought What you want to find is actually the way to train your soul.
"Everyone has a different view of the soul, but who knows the truth about it? You should have seen the Mist of Divine Doom. It is the remains left by the gods. It was formed after the souls of the ancient gods were destroyed. That is It’s a form in which the soul reaches its limit.”
Eagle didn't intend to convince Joshua. After all, as he said, they just had different opinions. Regarding Joshua's troubles, he gave another suggestion: "The ancient gods harnessed the power of divinity and looked at the soul forms of those pioneers. It will definitely be helpful to you."
"You're right." Joshua blinked, then nodded in approval. He has indeed ignored this aspect - the gods in ancient times can control the power of divinity, control the sky, the earth, the wind and the ocean. The mist of divine misfortune formed by the remains of their souls is indeed the best reference. I had observed it for a while before, but now I have forgotten this. It seems that I am indeed a little too anxious.
"However, Your Majesty the Pope, your tone is not what a cleric should be."
After expressing his gratitude to Eagle, Joshua made a joke, but the old pope did not take it seriously: "I respect the gods because they are the pioneers who protect civilization and deserve my respect and belief... Do you think What should a priest be like? Preaching all the time?”
At this point, Eagle laughed, and he said seriously across the circle: "Speaking of which, Joshua, do you want to consider joining the Church of the Seven Gods? As a patron of the Seven Gods and a legendary strongman, I can You will be directly made the guardian of the Great Temple—Champion of the Seven Gods, and the title of First Holy Guard is always waiting for you."
"You are joking."
"of course not."
"...I don't care, but this is too abrupt."
Joshua frowned. Of course he could see that Eagle was not joking, and he also had enough reasons and motives - he was the inheritor of the sage, the person watched by the seven gods. He had helped the holy mountain resist the mad dragon, and helped They went to the abyss to stop the demon dragon army, and he even helped the Church of the Seven Gods complete the mission they had inherited since ancient times: to find the fourth inheritor and continue the flame of this world.
To be honest, Joshua just doesn't have a title now. If we really count it based on his deeds, it wouldn't be an exaggeration for him to come to the Holy Mountain to be a pope. If it weren't for some inexplicable reasons, his reputation in Mycroft's world is somewhat Subtly leaning in a more malicious direction, he has long been touted as the first paladin of the modern era.
"Just an invitation."
Eagle did not continue to talk about this topic. He closed his eyes gently and said in a low tone: "The abyss is in front, the evil god is behind. Mycroft's world still faces many threats, but in the continent, the relationship between humans The civil war is still going on, the conflicts between the royal family of the Northern Empire, civilians and nobles, the war within the Western Mountain Kingdom, the undercurrents of the Far Southern Elves, the human kingdom and the business alliance, the overt and covert fights between the two major mage organizations in the Eastern Plains... I want to end this dispute. , like the sages, mediating the balance of the world.”
But you alone are not strong enough. Far from enough.
Joshua understood what Eagle was thinking now. What he wanted to do was to do what the sage had done, to unite all the human forces in the world to fight against the powerful enemies destined to appear in the future. But even the old pope's strength cannot do this. After all, he was not a saint, and even if he was a saint, he was assisted by twelve saints.
And just when Joshua consulted Eagle for the ultimate meaning of the soul, and started a series of discussions with him.
Beyond the multiverse.
A ball of blazing white flames shuttled awkwardly in the void. Not long ago, it was escaping from the enemy's pursuit, and for this reason, it chose the most dangerous random teleportation technique in a panic - the spell was successful, and it escaped from the enemy's pursuit. But because of this, he fell into the depths of the abyss, not knowing where he was, and could only wander in the void for minutes.
This blazing white flame left a thin trail of flames in the void. It was already feeling very tired, and just in time, it sensed a huge power fluctuation in the world around it. The fluctuation was tyrannical and terrifying, but But it has a trace of vitality that can circulate itself. For a life that was born in the abyss and was ashes from the beginning, this glimmer of life is so precious that even if you die, you have to get close to it and come into contact with the light. The blazing white flame was close to coma, but relying on instinct, it immediately changed its direction and approached the world that was releasing vitality fluctuations.
Not only it, but also many darkness wandering in the surrounding world are also approaching that world, but the blazing white flame has no energy to care about those things. After a long time, when it finally comes to that world, it uses up its last A trace of power belonging to the great devil broke through the barrier of the world, entered the world that was actually not that big, and then turned into a bright meteor, with a long arc, hitting the ground.
One could vaguely see that in the center of the blazing white flame that was about to go out, there seemed to be the figure of a Balrog.
But when did the white Balrog appear in this world? What kind of encounter could turn a Balrog into what it is now, without the slightest trace of evil and decadence
The White Balrog-Syndicate knows what happened to it, and also knows who has such a method, but it doesn't want to remember at all, it was the most cruel torture in the world... That existence is undoubtedly the greatest demon among demons! But now is not the time to think about this. When the White Balrog was halfway down, he suddenly realized that the place where he landed seemed to be a small village in the mountains. At its speed, it would definitely completely destroy that village and the people inside. All life.
The Balrog naturally didn't care before and just destroyed a village. Although it had never been to the main material world to kill anyone, it had never cared about other lives except itself. But now, for some reason, Syndicate was affected by something. It suddenly gritted its teeth and turned, using up its last bit of energy, it crashed towards a hillside near the village.
Boom——A violent explosion sounded, and huge echoes echoed in the mountains. And because of this sudden kindness for some unknown reason, the Syndicate exhausted their last efforts and completely passed out in the explosion.
After a long time, accompanied by bursts of hurried footsteps, a small group of people cautiously emerged from the forest in the direction of the village. They noticed the crater caused by the Syndicate's landing, and also noticed the slowly burning white fire deep in the lava pit. flame.
2 updates yesterday and today
There was heavy snow yesterday and the road was closed. I dug a road in front of my house and went to bed... Forgot to update
(End of chapter)