Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 33, The Bula Race

“Bresle, you have a divine darkness clone as well?” The Black Tortoise Army’s commander, Wilhelm, said in surprise.

Linley laughed calmly as he glanced at Wilhelm, then said, “Wilhelm, as the commander of the Black Tortoise Army, you haven’t been collecting sufficiently accurate intelligence. You didn’t even know that Bresle had a divine darkness clone.”

“Sovereign, your subordinate was remiss.” Wilhelm hurriedly bowed.

Bresle bowed as well. “Sovereign, aside from everyone present, there are less than five people who know about my divine darkness clone, which is indeed a secret. Since I have become your Emissary, I naturally won’t hold this secret back from you.”

Linley nodded while smiling. “How far away is your divine clone? How long will he need to fly here?”

“Not too far away. Ten days or so.” Bresle said.

“Hey, kid, that’s quite easy for you to say. ‘Just’ ten days? That means we have to wait ten days for you!” Bebe suddenly stared.

“But...” Bresle laughed awkwardly, then glanced at Linley. “I need ten days. But if the Sovereign is willing to assist, a moment is all that’s needed.” Bresle didn’t know much about Sovereigns, but he knew that they travelled at astonishing speed.

Linley shook his head and laughed. “Let’s head out! Bresle, you guide the way towards your divine clone.”

“Yes, Sovereign! My divine clone is towards the northeast.” Bresle hurriedly pointed towards that direction, while turning to glance at the distant azure-robed man, his good friend, Gansla. He immediately sent through divine sense, “Gansla, my friend, I am going to accompany the Sovereign and depart now. In the future, we will have the chance to meet again.”

“Bresle, congratulations.” The distant Gansla, staring at Linley’s group, felt delighted for his friend’s fortune.

“Let’s go!” Linley laughed and spoke out.

As he spoke, he sent out a surge of earth-type Sovereign power, which wrapped around everyone present.

“Whoosh!” They transformed into an earthen yellow flash of light which disappeared into the horizons.

Gansla raised his head, watching the light disappear, then sighed. “Before this, Bresle was in the middle of a duel with me. Who would have imagined that in the blink of an eye, he would become a Sovereign’s Emissary?” He glanced at the surrounding grasslands, then a smile appeared on his face. “Fortunately, a few days ago, Bresle managed to finish this magic formation.”

In recent days, Bresle had been staying with Gansla, primarily to help Gansla set up a magic formation.

The profound mysteries of formations differed from the Seven Elemental Laws and the Four Edicts.

They were extremely special. The analysis of formations required sufficient patience, as well as talent in that field. It had extremely high requirements, in terms of both innate talent as well as analytical ability. In the Four Higher Realms and the Seven Divine Planes, formation masters had exalted statuses.

For example, when Linley had entered the Infernal Realm and participated in a Fiend trial, he had entered a castle that was protected by a large, powerful formation.

Only, the Dao of formations was not the true Dao. There was no way in which one could increase one’s own strength through them.

“After today, there shouldn’t be many who will come make trouble for me.” Gansla smiled as he activated the formation.

“Rumble...”

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

In a circumference of nearly ten kilometers, a blurry light suddenly lit up, then vanished. Instantly, the scenery within this region completely changed; the lake and the building both disappeared, transforming into ordinary grass.

Clearly, this was an extremely powerful illusory magical formation.

Linley had no idea that he had just accepted a formations master as his Emissary.

The world was vast and empty.

Linley’s group continued to fly through the air at high speed. Linley frowned as he glanced at Bresle, then said, “Bresle, where exactly is your divine clone?”

“Up ahead. We are almost there.” Bresle said.

“Right, right here, Sovereign. You can halt.” Bresle suddenly said.

Linley frowned as he halted. This place was nearly a hundred million kilometers away from the earlier grasslands, but a distance of a hundred million kilometers, to Linley, could be traversed in the time it took to say a few words.

“Are you certain? Right here?” Linley couldn’t help but look at him.

“Right. My divine clone is right here.” Bresle laughed as he looked into the distance.

Linley looked towards that direction as well. In the distance, he saw a series of metallic lifeform flying about, as well as a few people moving about by their own. What surprised Linley was...he wasn’t able to locate a person in the surrounding area who had the same aura as Bresle did.

“He’s here.” Bresle laughed.

Indeed...

A figure advanced towards them, flying at high speed. This person was dressed in a long, black robe, and was comparable to Bresle in height. Only, an occasional, fiendish light flashed through his eyes. After drawing close, this person immediately bowed respectfully. “The ‘Darkness’ Bresle pays his respects to you, Sovereign!”

Silence!

The other Emissaries. Army commander Wilhelm. Bebe. Even Linley! They were all stunned!

“They...are the same person?” Linley stared at the two in disbelief.

The white-robed Bresle smiled in a very friendly manner, making others feel friendly towards him.

This black-robed Bresle, however, gave off a vile, evil feeling.

More importantly...the soul auras of the two were completely different!

Logically speaking, upon becoming a Deity, a person’s soul would be split, but each soul would be the same. Memories, emotions, feelings...they would all be the same. In principle, different divine clones should have the same aura and thoughts, right?

“Sovereign, the two of us truly are the same person.” The white-robed Bresle said respectfully.

“To be more precise, countless years ago, we were one person.” The black-robed Bresle gave the white-robed Bresle a glance.

Bebe looked at the two Bresles, then turned to stare at Linley. He sent mentally, “Boss, what’s going on? The two of them are one person?”

“Bresle, the two of you...” Linley swept the two with his glance. “Truly are the same person? How can you prove it?”

The white-robed Bresle looked at the black-robed Bresle, then said, “The two of us can merge into one.”

“I really don’t want to merge bodies with you.” The black-robed Bresle muttered.

And then, the white-robed Bresle and the black-robed Bresle moved towards each other...and their bodies merged into one, resulting in a single person. Bresle!

“They really are a single person.” Linley was completely stunned.

Only a single person would be able to merge bodies like this.

The strange thing was, after the two merged into one, the soul of the ‘fused’ person had a different aura. Compared to the pureness and gentleness of the white-robed Bresle’s soul aura, as well as the savagery of the black-robed Bresle’s soul aura, it was completely different.

It was a mix, and yet, strangely, it was one.

“Can you tell me what this is all about?” Linley looked at this Bresle, puzzled.

Bresle looked at the surrounding people, then bowed and said, “Sovereign, I, Bresle...imagine that you can tell that I am not of an ordinary race.”

Linley nodded.

His body was so powerful that he could receive blows from Seven Star Fiend-level experts head on; how could an ordinary person withstand such blows? In addition, after transforming, the flesh on Bresle’s body would dramatically swell, and be covered with azure skin and complicated white runes. It actually looked rather like the skin of a serpent. And of course, two horns would emerge from his forehead.

All of this represented that Bresle was not a member of an ordinary race.

“I am a member of the ancient Bula race!” Bresle said respectfully.

“Bula race?” Linley frowned.

“Yes, Sovereign.” Bresle said respectfully. “The innate gifts of our Bula race are no weaker than a divine beast’s!”

Linley knew that the world contained many marvelous creatures, some of which had their own innate divine abilities.

For example, the Amethyst Mountains had given birth to the Redbud Sovereign, and the Nether Sea had given birth to the very first plant-based lifeform, the Chief Sovereign of Death. The Infernal Realm’s very first creature, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction...they all were all unique creatures. There were many creatures such as them, and generally speaking, each material plane would also give birth to one or two divine beasts or unique creatures as well.

The Yulan Plane, for example, had given birth to the Godeater Rat.

The other planes had quite a few as well. Only, everyone was different; although some had incredible innate gifts, their accomplishments were still meager.

“Although our Bula race is powerful...we don’t have any innate divine abilities!” Bresle said.

“No innate divine abilities?” Bebe couldn’t help but ask, puzzled.

The more powerful a race was, the more likely it should be that they would have an innate divine ability.

“The heavens are fair. We don’t have any innate divine abilities, but we have an innate gift from birth.” Bresle laughed. “Every single person of the Bula race, from their earliest memories, are aware of a very special technique...the technique to allow their souls to transform, and then for them to become two people.”

“Transform?” Linley frowned.

“Right, transform!” Bresle nodded. “Any intelligent lifeform will have personality flaws and weaknesses! For example, I like to research magic formations, and wanted to let myself be completely absorbed in analyzing them. But in my heart, I also hold desires and interests in other things, such as women, power, and more! These things will make it so that I am unable to calm myself down and focus on analyzing magic formations.”

Linley nodded.

This was much like how he himself was unable to completely focus on training without pause. Generally speaking, of Linley’s five divine clones, only four would train at once, with one being in a state of rest.

“We Bulas are able to allow our personalities, bodies, and thoughts be completely separated into two. We put what we want in one, while we can discard the greed and vileness in our hearts into the other! Afterwards, we can allow our souls to transform and divide into two souls. And so, we will have divided into two people!” Bresle laughed. “For example, me. One of my bodies is calm and kind; I can completely focus on analyzing magic formations. But my other soul is filled with all sorts of venal desires; it can go kill, fight, and plunder.”

“The two souls don’t want to disturb each other.” Bresle laughed. “And because each go to the extreme in their respective ways, I naturally will make great progress.”

Linley, hearing this, was completely stunned.

This was a single person who, in many ways, had become two persons.

There was a saying that in the heart of every single person, there was a ‘demon’. Even the most noble, exalted of individuals would have, deep in their hearts, a brutal streak; only, those people had extremely powerful self-control and wouldn’t let it escape.

But this Bula race, they were actually able to completely separate that brutality.

“A person’s soul is very complicated! When a creature is born, they will naturally gain a soul, and as they gain experiences, their thoughts and soul will naturally change as well. Thus, their soul aura will also change minutely.” Bresle laughed calmly. “But of course, the change won’t be too extravagant. After all, when a person is born, their soul aura has essentially been set.”

Linley nodded.

He understood this principle. When he was young, he was a bit different compared to how he was right now. Although others could still recognize Linley at one glance, they would also be able to tell that he had changed.

“After becoming a Deity, the soul is divided into two. That, however, is just a splitting of the soul; the mind and the aura doesn’t change. Or, more precisely speaking, it’s still exactly the same person, and so the thoughts are completely the same.” Bresle laughed. “But we of the Bula race are different. Our two bodies have different thoughts, different souls, different personalities! We go to two different extremes. Naturally, our soul auras will also change.”

As he spoke, ‘Bresle’ once more transformed, dividing into two individuals once more; the white-robed Bresle and the black-robed Bresle.

“When we are together, we will even get into fights because of our different attitudes and different methods of action.” The white-robed Bresle laughed as he looked at Linley. “Sovereign, can you imagine it?”

“Bizarre. Inconceivable!” Linley sighed in amazement.

The natural world truly was a bizarre place. Even these sorts of races could be created by the natural world. Although they didn’t have innate divine abilities, they had been bestowed with this unique racial gift.

“How many members are there of your Bula race?” Linley couldn’t help but ask.

“Very, very few.” The white-robed Bresle shook his head. “In all these years, I’ve only encountered three. When we Bulas meet each other, we can easily recognize each other.”

“So few?” Bebe chortled. “Then if you want to find a Bula female and have a child, wouldn’t that be very difficult?”

The white-robed Bresle was startled, but then he laughed and shook his head. “In truth, our Bula race doesn’t have ‘men’ or ‘women’; we decide which appearance we wish to take. The process of giving birth, for our Bula race, is actually quite simple. We sacrifice ourselves and use up our life energy to vomit out an egg. Soon after vomiting the egg out, we will perish. The child, in turn, will break through the egg and emerge, descending upon the world.”

For one to be born, one must die.

Linley and Bebe exchanged glances. They couldn’t help but sigh. This race truly was unique.