Nine Venoms Sect Founder - Chapter 150: Birth of the Cicada

Neither the stele nor Dolma had warned Harun about the purple-eyed expert’s identity or looks. All he knew was that he possessed the Eye of Sovereign Fate, created the Tantric Exaltation Mantra and killed the Holy One. However, one look at that expert—at Golden Cicada—gave Harun all the answers he needed, enabling him to support his previous guesses with irrefutable evidence.

Both experts sat on lotus thrones, facing one another with drastically opposed stances. Standing on the sidelines, Harun watched the two engage in a heated debate. More accurately, as Golden Cicada raged, the Holy One stayed cool-headed.

“Akanista, you raving, fanatical autocrat, what have you done?!” Golden Cicada snapped at the nun, who raised her eyebrows in a lopsided slope. Rainbow-colored silkworms floated around her lotus throne, each writhing in orbs of raw energy.

“Acala, I’m confused. What’s all this indignation for?” Akanista bluntly asked. Yet, the honesty in her tone only further incensed the monk, and leaping from his lotus throne, he aimed an accusing finger at her.

“What? She dares ask me what? How about using our blood to create trillions of parasites that turn the average man into a cultivator-mauling barbarian? How about spreading this plague across our Landverse and overnight raising mobs of starving fiends driven by an irrational hatred of cultivation itself? Oh, and I almost forgot, who gave you the gal…” here Acala paused, flashed a bright smile, then let his rage twist his face into a grimace fit for a wrathful demon, “TO AIM YOUR CREATIONS AT THE MYRIAD DEVIL PALACE?!”

Spatial rifts spread across the atmosphere as the purple-eyed monk’s words thundered in the isolated dimension. Across the omniverse, few could shoulder this emotional storm without bursting into blood and gore. Fewer could pull out such a reaction from him. Needless to say, Akanista ranked at the top of that list. Half-annoyed by her partner’s words, Akanista squinted her golden eyes at him, and as her double pupils contracted, so did her patience. “You must be out of your mind. Have you forgotten the reason for our existence, why only we, among zillions, enjoy all these blessings? Or is it possible that you still cling to that identity…to Siegfried?” Akanista challenged rage with reason and rose to her feet.

“Born without flaws and spoiled by destiny, we exist to end the world’s anarchy, obliterate diabolism, and pacify the omniverse. But while the Devil Road heavily contributes to the violence and destruction that haunts so many Landverses, we cannot ignore the fundament truth: cultivation and free will have ruined all worlds.

Unlike us refiners, cultivators of all walks of life rely on external resources. Without, either they can’t reach the peak, or they fall behind their peers. This toxic dependence that the cultivation world nurtured from immemorial times now translates into constant wars, suppression, or oppression, all for the sake of growth and resources. The knowledgeable take the Devil’s life as a fairy tale, deep down hoping to emulate his legend, while the ignorant pursue breakthroughs upon breakthroughs, unaware that the peak they seek belongs to one man only.

Worse, even in barren lands such as the Omega Landverse and its 13 Earths, pure mortals have reached such a technological level that for them, cultivation holds minimal appeal. Immortality serums, biological disasters, planetary lasers, cosmic shields, energy armors, robotic armies, etc. Strength wise, they’ve achieved everything cultivation promises and so much more…with only technology. Under the Emperor-level, no one can threaten that Landverse. As its former God-Emperor, you know that better than anyone.

This is terrifying, and so we must ensure that following the destruction of cultivation, all civilizations return to a primitive state. This time, we will restrict their mental faculties, ambition and curiosity to unite them around pure asceticism and usher eons of peace. Refiners are the future. The only future the omniverse demands, and my Salvation Worms will lay down the foundation we need to fight this unprecedented war. Right now, we’re too young, too weak. But once we unite as the Golden Cicada, fulfill our potential and perfect our mutants, who can stand in our way?” Striding through the air, Akanista stopped before Acala and reached for his cheeks.

“You and I stem from the same source: the Golden Silkworm. Though we may represent opposed principles, aren’t our end goals and thought processes the same? I’m sure that deep down, you see this the way I do. Isn’t this why you raised the sixth prince’s empathy to an unbearable level, leading him to reject his house, name and everything?” Akanista whispered in her partner’s ears—reminding him of their birth.

She was correct. None could imagine that Siegfried, the Sixth Devil Prince, was born with a Golden Silkworm buried in his heart. Fusing all energies across the omniverse, that silkworm amplified Siegfried’s unique talent, granting him the Transcendent Catalyst constitution that’d later enable him to exceed all records.

Born from and sheltered by the Omniverse’s defiant will, the worm aimed to turn Siegfried against his kin, and make him the sword that’d end the Devil’s reign. Little did it expect that following its stimulation, instead of planning changes from the inside, Siegfried outright cut his bloodline and destroyed his cultivation.

While some might mistake this as the highest form of rejection, in truth, it was a cowardly move. Siegfried didn’t have the heart to rebel against his father, challenge his kin, and shed Devil Blood. He was too gentle, too soft, to let this new sense of righteous duty supersede the affection his house showered him with. Thus, unable to pick a side, he rejected both and rushed straight into self-destruction.

The silkworm realized too late that the omniverse had picked the wrong candidate. The Sixth Prince lacked the devious cunning and barbarous nature that enabled his father to oppress all his enemies. But unlike future golden silkworms, tied to his heart and soul, this one couldn’t live without Siegfried. Therefore, the parasite took control of the host, turning the sixth prince into the Golden Silkworm. After draining the world’s essence for 99 cycles of 66 years, the silkworm wrapped itself in a cocoon and split into a pair of Golden Nymphs, male and female—the first double pupil owners: Acala and Akanista.

They soon gained human form, and though Akanista took credit for much of the work, it’s together that they created the first refiners.

Unfortunately, Acala, Akanista, and the omniverse itself had underestimated the Sixth Prince’s will to exceed expectations. Scattered within Acala’s soul, Siegfried’s consciousness united and staged a silent counterattack, slowly eroding Acala’s nature to snatch back control of the body. They’d reached a critical point, but thanks to Akanista’s rash words and extreme move, move that destabilized even her partner, Siegfried triumphed—at last freeing himself from Acala’s net.

Dazzling purple rays shot out of the youth’s double pupils, making Akanista recoil from the mystical pressure she felt within. Siegfried’s sclera turned bright-red, and as he cracked his neck, his muscles bulked to impressive proportions. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my mortal friends, it’s this: a government’s duty is to protect its citizens from one another, not from themselves. Men deserve the freedom to ruin their own lives. My wish is to offer them guidance and security, not chains.” Siegfried declared, and instantly, Akanista realized that her partner was lost.

Dark-blue mist billowed from her immaculate flesh, rising into the heavens to become a vast starry sky. Marble-white, floating palaces descended, hovering between thousands of golden lightning stars that dazzled the isolated dimension. Blinding light surged from Akanista’s flesh, and as she rose into the starry sky, becoming the focal point of this celestial phenomenon, Harun first witnessed the true summit of a refiner’s potential.

“Siegfried, resistance is futile. We are bound by a common destiny. You can never free yourself…from this karmic link,” Akanista stated, and joined her hands in a prayer sign. Thousands of colossal, golden lightning hands shot out of the stars, dropping on Siegfried with enough strength to obliterate a Landverse. Undisturbed, the youthful monk formed a mudra and the lightning hands broke down into energy particles.

Unable to accept this reality, Akanista’s eyes widened in disbelief. A pity that this changed nothing to the result. The same blinding light surged from Siegfried’s flesh, prompting the grand cosmic phenomenon unique to Ancestor-level refiners.

“As my old man would say, destiny exists to be trampled. If, as a refiner, I cannot free myself from you parasites, I shall create a new cultivation bridge, master karma, acausality, reincarnation and the samsara itself if I must…to regain the freedom that should be mine by right!” Siegfried proclaimed and raised his right hand. A golden palm of infinite proportion formed above Akanista, convincing her that regardless of where she fled to, that palm could smack her down—Golden Cicada’s signature skill: the Genesis Palm!

Beyond all measures of speed, that palm smashed into Akanista, breaking through the heavenly abodes and lightning stars powering her to blast her toward the ground. One move, an instantaneous defeat. Even as she cratered, Akanista knew that she’d never be able to turn the tide. The gap between Acala and she was bad enough, but when Siegfried took control, that difference became an insurmountable mountain.

Why? Why was it that she who followed her duty to the letter, couldn’t enjoy the same blessings as this unredeemable rebel? It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right!

With a single step, Siegfried appeared above Akanista, whose crumbling flesh and golden blood formed a lustrous puddle underneath her. “You…cannot destroy me! Either you absorb me, or you set me loose. Be that as it may, I will never let you go!” She was correct. Until he severed the intricate bounds uniting them, Siegfried only had those two options—well, almost.

Aiming one hand at Akanista’s right eye, Siegfried placed the other on his double pupils—extracting his ocular powers to transfer them to Akanista’s right eye. Powerless to resist, and too confused to say a word, the motionless Akanista watched Siegfried transfer all of his double pupils’ powers to her. And as the eye of Sovereign Fate settled in its new owner, a golden blood drop flew out of Akanista’s chest to merge with Siegfried: her Blood Origin.

Destroying a refiner’s flesh was no different from crippling their cultivation. Without extraordinary circumstances or external help, it’d take them millennia to restore their strength. But now that she’d also lost her Blood Origin, Akanista was like a mortal cripple hit by a full-speed truck.

On the contrary, Siegfried’s skin had never looked more vigorous, as if at the moment he stole—no—retrieved that blood, his flesh had reached its true limit. Matching his blood origin, his eyes took a golden shade, and though he no longer possessed double pupils, Akanista didn’t doubt that he’d never been stronger. What remained of Akanista’s flesh broke down, becoming nutrient for Siegfried while her soul left for the reincarnation cycle.

Thus, Golden Cicada was born. And before they unleashed the chaos Akanista created them for, Golden Cicada destroyed the Salvation Worms—preventing a calamity.