# Chapter 18: Invitation and the Flame Demon's Strange Encounter
After bidding farewell to William and Baniel, Joshua's subsequent visits and inquiries also ended in failure.
"I'm not sure... I've probably forgotten."
"It's probably a perfectly integrated mind unaffected by external influences. As long as you can calmly and rationally handle every situation, you can grasp the power of your mind and resist all external disturbances."
"I advanced during the Great Magic Tide, Lord. If you insist on me describing the specific feeling, I really don't know how to put it into words..."
"Lord Count, I'm not deceiving you, but I truly cannot describe that feeling with words."
Throughout the entire Northern Lands, every holder of Soul's Ultimate Essence who had come for travel or employment was visited by Joshua one by one. Most of them had advanced unexpectedly due to the influence of the Great Magic Tide. Although they had indeed completed their sublimation, they were somewhat unclear about the specific process. Some of them earnestly explained their experiences, while others seemed unwilling to speak. Joshua didn't mind either way, simply telling them that he was willing to exchange knowledge and techniques of equal value, and would never treat them unfairly.
It wasn't until the warrior had no other choice and sought out some old friends that he finally gained some insight.
"Soul's Ultimate Essence? That was decades ago. Although there might be some minor errors in the details, the general picture should be correct."
In response to the warrior's inquiry, Nostradamus smiled and explained in detail the circumstances of his own advancement. The clarity of the details was nothing like the "minor errors" he had mentioned, but the content itself was rather speechless — according to Joshua's understanding, the old mage had simply meditated, and while meditating, he just broke through. Even though he could clearly remember the number of dust particles around him during his advancement, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about it. As for Joshua's troubles regarding divinity, Nostradamus expressed that he couldn't help: "Your mind is already very solid, my friend. Even if it hasn't reached its limit, it's certainly very close. Even if you truly achieve Soul's Ultimate Essence, it may not be enough to resist its erosion."
Although their personalities were quite compatible, it was clear that Nostradamus couldn't help Joshua much in this regard. The only valuable thing he said about Soul's Ultimate Essence was: "If we're talking about the difference before and after awakening, then before awakening, I felt that I was a whole of 'soul and body.' But after awakening, the body became somewhat irrelevant, a part that could be discarded."
Although this statement seemed unremarkable, it gave Joshua a vague idea. He felt that he might have grasped a thread, but it still wasn't very clear. After thanking Nostradamus and saying goodbye, the warrior thought for a moment, then sought out the next person, also the last person on his list.
"Soul's Ultimate Essence? My view on it is 'the unity of knowledge and action.' If you perfect this point, you can be considered flawless, impeccable in terms of mind."
Communicating through a transmission spell, the Pope of the Seven Gods, Israel, pondered for a moment. In response to the warrior's question, he replied slowly: "Whether or not you achieve Soul's Ultimate Essence has no direct relationship with your ability to resist the erosion of divinity. Especially for you, Joshua, you and your divinity are a bit too compatible. Sometimes it aligns perfectly with your thoughts — I suspect that the imperfection in your mind is precisely your self-doubt and resistance."
"In other words, the reason you can still resist the erosion of divinity is precisely because you have not achieved Soul's Ultimate Essence."
"If a person cannot question themselves, how can they progress? Besides, this explanation is too vague."
Across the formation, Joshua shook his head. Clearly, Israel's words had started to become somewhat mystical, quite different from his own views. Joshua believed that the soul was merely his second thinking organ besides the brain, and divinity was like some kind of mutation within the body, unclear in its goodness or evil, similar to cancer. It could bring vigorous vitality and power, but it would also transform the originally independent soul into something like itself. Soul's Ultimate Essence, then, was about training this organ to its limit, allowing the soul itself to develop resistance against mutation and maintain its independent autonomy.
In other words, in Joshua's view, the soul, like muscles, could be trained and strengthened. No matter how mystical the explanations, they were nothing more than some kind of spiritual push-ups, sit-ups, and long-distance running. What he wanted to find was simply the method to train the soul.
"Everyone has a different view of the soul, but who truly knows its truth? You should have seen the Divine Calamity Mist. It is the remnant left by the gods, formed from the shattered souls of the ancient gods — that is precisely a form of the soul reaching its limit."
Israel didn't intend to convince Joshua either, since, as he said, they simply had different views. As for Joshua's troubles, he offered another suggestion: "The ancient gods wielded the power of divinity. Observing the soul forms of those pioneers would certainly be helpful to you."
"You're right." Joshua blinked, then nodded in agreement. He had indeed overlooked this aspect — the ancient gods could control the power of divinity, commanding the sky, the earth, the wind, and the sea. The Divine Calamity Mist formed from the remnants of their souls was indeed the best reference. He had even observed it for a while before, but had now forgotten about it. It seemed he had been too anxious.
"However, Your Holiness the Pope, that tone of yours doesn't sound like what a clergy member should have."
After expressing his gratitude to Israel, Joshua teased him, but the old pope was unperturbed: "I respect the gods because they are pioneers who guarded civilization, worthy of my respect and faith... What do you think a clergy member should be like? Preaching all the time?"
Speaking of this, Israel laughed. He spoke seriously across the formation: "Speaking of which, Joshua, have you considered joining the Church of the Seven Gods? Given your status as a favored one of the Seven Gods and a legendary expert, I can directly appoint you as the guardian of the Great Temple — the titles of Champion of the Seven Gods and First Holy Guard are always waiting for you."
"You're joking."
"Of course not."
"...I wouldn't mind, but this is too abrupt."
Joshua frowned. He could clearly see that Israel wasn't joking, and he had sufficient reasons and motives — Joshua was the inheritor of the Sage, the one watched by the Seven Gods. He had helped the Holy Mountain resist the Mad Dragon, helped them go to the Abyss to stop the Demon Dragon army, and had even helped the Church of the Seven Gods complete their ancient mission: to find the Fourth Inheritor and continue the flame of this world.
To be honest, Joshua simply lacked a title now. If judged by his deeds, coming to the Holy Mountain to serve as pope wouldn't be excessive. If not for some inexplicable reasons that had caused his reputation in the Mycroft World to lean somewhat maliciously, he would have long been hailed as something like the greatest paladin of the era.
"It's just an invitation."
Israel didn't continue on this topic. He gently closed his eyes, his tone somewhat low: "The Abyss lies ahead, the Evil Gods behind. The Mycroft World still faces many threats, but within the continent, civil wars among humans continue — the conflicts between the Northern Empire's royal family, commoners, and nobles; the internal wars within the Western Mountain Kingdom; the undercurrents among the elves of the Far South, human kingdoms, and the commercial alliance; the open and secret struggles between the two major mage organizations in the Eastern Plains... I want to end these conflicts, like the Sage did, to harmonize the balance of the world."
But your strength alone is not enough. Far from enough.
Joshua understood Israel's thoughts. What he wanted to do was what the Sage had done back then — unite all of humanity's power in the world to confront the powerful enemies destined to appear in the future. But even the old pope's strength was insufficient for this. In the end, he was not the Sage, and even the Sage had the assistance of twelve saints back then.
And while Joshua was consulting Israel about Soul's Ultimate Essence and engaging in a series of discussions with him...
At the other end of the multiverse.
A mass of blazing white flame was frantically shuttling through the void. Not long ago, it had been fleeing from an enemy's pursuit and had desperately chosen the most dangerous random teleportation spell — the spell succeeded, and it escaped the enemy's pursuit, but it found itself deep in the Abyss, unaware of its location, forced to wander through the void.
This mass of blazing white flame left a trail of thin, glowing light in the void. It already felt exhausted, and coincidentally, it sensed a tremendous power fluctuation coming from a nearby world. The fluctuation was powerful, terrifying, but carried a hint of self-sustaining, vibrant life force. For a life born in the Abyss, starting as nothing but ash from the very beginning, this hint of life force was a light precious enough to approach and touch even at the cost of death. The blazing white flame was nearing unconsciousness, but driven by instinct, it immediately changed direction and moved toward the world radiating that life force fluctuation.
It wasn't alone. Many other dark presences wandering through the surrounding worlds were also moving toward that world, but the blazing white flame had no energy to care about those things. After a long time, when it finally arrived near that world, it used the last of its power as a Greater Demon to break through the world's barrier, entered that relatively small world, and then turned into a bright meteor, trailing a long arc as it crashed toward the ground.
One could vaguely see that within the nearly extinguished blazing white flame seemed to be the figure of a flame demon.
But when had there ever been a white flame demon in this world? What kind of encounter could turn a flame demon into this state, without any trace of evil, corruption, or decaying corruption?
The white flame demon — Syndicate — knew what it had encountered and who had the means to do this, but it absolutely did not want to recall it. That was the most cruel torment in this world... That existence was undoubtedly a Great Demon among demons! But now was not the time to think about this. When the white flame demon was halfway through its descent, it suddenly realized that its landing point seemed to be a small village nestled in the mountains. At its speed, it would definitely completely destroy that village and all the lives within it.
In the past, a flame demon naturally wouldn't have cared. Destroying a village was nothing. Although it had never killed anyone in the material world, it had never cared about any life other than its own. But now, for some unknown reason, Syndicate was affected by something. It suddenly gritted its teeth and changed direction, using its last bit of strength to crash into a small hill near the village.
Boom ———————— A violent explosion sounded, and a huge echo reverberated through the mountains. Syndicate, having exhausted its last bit of energy due to this inexplicable sudden act of kindness, completely lost consciousness in the explosion.
A long time later, accompanied by hurried footsteps, a small squad cautiously emerged from the forest on the mountain near the village. They noticed the crater caused by Syndicate's impact, and also noticed the slowly burning white flame deep within the lava pit.