đź“– Chapter 1360 - Meeting
Although Wang Baole wasn’t very clear about what ended up happening to Tongue’s Desire City and the Tongue’s Desire Lord after he left, he could pretty much guess.
After all, the mass of distortions that was the Ear’s Desire Lord had only come to Tongue’s Desire City seeking the reward announced by the Protector. Thus, the fact that the Tongue’s Desire Lord obstructed her was a blatant provocation. Because he helped Wang Baole, he would certainly end up facing punishment from the Protector.
And this punishment definitely wouldn’t be light; otherwise, the Tongue’s Desire Lord wouldn’t have waited until the last moment to give Wang Baole his answer.
“Maybe the reason he decided to submit in the past was because… he couldn’t see hope.” Wang Baole’s heart was full of complicated feelings. Over the past period of time, he had already obtained a basic understanding of this world.
The Almighties who had turned into batteries deep underground in the Buried Realm were obviously those who hadn’t surrendered, leaving them in their current miserable states. With the tentacles stabbed into them ceaselessly absorbing their power, they were unable to escape their suffering for all eternity.
As for those like the Tongue’s Desire Lord and the Ear’s Desire Lord, they had obviously chosen to submit. Thus, they obtained their current status, but… their submission also came with a price.
That price was the loss of freedom, and perhaps other things as well.
As he flew across the ground, Wang Baole recalled the giant bronze cauldron in the City Lord Mansion. At that time, the Tongue’s Desire Lord had said his original body was inside the cauldron.
“Perhaps that… is also part of the price.” Wang Baole sighed. He knew that it was because of his arrival that the Tongue’s Desire Lord had seen hope.
It was because of him that the Almighty who once bowed his head and became a Desire Lord ended up deciding to gamble on a chance to fight back.
“The Ear’s Desire Lord obviously doesn’t agree with the Tongue’s Desire Lord’s way of thinking. There are several more Desire Lords, too, and I don’t know what’s in their minds…” Falling silent, Wang Baole moved faster and faster. Three days quickly passed as he crossed mountains and traversed forests, and when the fourth day came around, a desert appeared on the horizon.
This desert was no different from when he left. It was still a desolate wasteland devoid of any signs of life.
As an independent clone, Wang Baole couldn’t sense any traces of his original body’s existence nearby at all. Since even he was like this, then obviously no one else would be able to tell that beneath this desert was a divine being on the same level as a Desire Lord.
“Tch, the original body is as timid as a mouse. When it comes to hiding away, if he claims to be second, no one would dare claim the title of first.” Muttering to himself, Wang Baole was about to fly into the desert. But when he arrived at the edge of the desert, he suddenly paused.
A deep light flickered in his eyes, and he pondered without moving for a while. He looked back in the direction of Tongue’s Desire City, then at the spot where he remembered his original body was hiding in the desert, and fell silent for a long time.
“Although I haven’t yet finished what the original body needs me to do… it’s possible that he’ll change his mind and no longer want to let me loose. He might try to fuse me back into him.
“If that happens, I don’t know if he’ll honor my promise with the Tongue’s Desire Lord.” Wang Baole shook his head and took a few steps backward. Sitting down cross-legged outside the desert, he pointed a finger at the center of his brows, and his body suddenly trembled violently as he summoned his Nightmares of Desire. Once the Nightmares of Desire filled his surroundings, Wang Baole put his hands together and spoke.
“Fuse!”
With that, the dozens of Nightmares of Desire in the surroundings rapidly gathered together, merging into a black mist. This black mist wriggled and squirmed before eventually turning into a figure that looked exactly like Wang Baole.
This figure was completely made up of Nightmares of Desire, but its only difference from Wang Baole was the fact that its eyes were blood-red, as if barely keeping his madness in check. The figure walked toward Wang Baole step by step and finally knelt down in front of him.
Wang Baole narrowed his eyes and gently pressed a finger to the center of this Nightmare of Desire’s brows, inserting 30% of his own will into it. The redness in the Nightmare of Desire’s eyes melted away, replaced by clarity. Turning around, it ran straight toward the desert.
Staring at the back of the Nightmare of Desire he had created, Wang Baole sat down cross-legged on the spot. His eyes slowly closed as his body became motionless.
However, a faint vortex appeared outside his body. This vortex contained the power of the law of tongue’s desire, which would protect him from harm.
Just like that, Wang Baole’s body meditated there while his mind controlled the Nightmare of Desire, which flew through the desert toward the spot where his original body was.
Four hours passed. In the central area of the desert, Wang Baole’s Nightmare of Desire suddenly stopped and searched the ground beneath it. Soon, it stomped a foot, and its body turned into a mass of black mist. Countless strands of mist sank into the ground, filtering down through the sand.
In the underground deep below the desert, there was a cave. And inside that cave was a figure sitting cross-legged in meditation.
This figure didn’t exude any aura, but anyone who saw him would feel a force of suppression, as if they were facing a god.
Yes, this figure was… Wang Baole’s original body.
Strands of black mist suddenly seeped out from the soil in the surroundings and quickly gathered together, once again forming the Nightmare of Desire created by Wang Baole’s clone. At the same time, Wang Baole’s original body slowly opened both eyes.
His gaze was like lightning, and a monstrous pressure immediately enveloped the Nightmare of Desire. In an instant, Wang Baole’s original body saw through everything about this creation of his clone.
“Sure enough, a clone with his own thoughts and will. After I sent him out, he actually learned not to come in person.” Wang Baole’s original body showed a faint smile.
“Tell me, why have you come back?”
Speaking lightly, Wang Baole’s original body retracted his gaze, relieving the Nightmare of Desire of the stifling pressure. As soon as it was freed, it took several steps backward, vigilantly staring at Wang Baole’s original body with a complicated gaze. After a while, a hoarse voice came out from its mouth.
“I became the Gluttony Lord of Tongue’s Desire City. That made me a part of the law of tongue’s desire, and-” Soon after the Nightmare of Desire started speaking, its expression changed drastically. It wanted to run, but it was already too late.
Wang Baole’s original body suddenly lifted his head upon hearing the Nightmare of Desire’s first sentence. Raising his right hand, he made a grasping motion, and the Nightmare of Desire collapsed into a mass of black mist. The will of Wang Baole’s clone that had been imbued into the mist was extracted by the original body and then held up to the center of his brows.
He wasn’t absorbing the clone’s will, but merely scanning it.
A moment later, Wang Baole’s original body knew about everything that had happened to his clone since leaving this place.
After a while, a strange light shone in Wang Baole’s original body’s eyes. He pulled away the hand that was pressed to his brows and looked at his clone’s will.
"Do you want freedom?"