# Chapter 9: Followers and Seekers 5200
If the act of an admirer "advancing" toward the place where their admired object resides is called "pursuit," then the act of a strong person constantly searching for a "target" in an almost completely unknown ocean can be called "seeking."
Whether pursuing or seeking, there is no inherent superiority or inferiority in their essence—both have a path to follow, both share the same goal and purpose. However, the meaning contained within these actions is completely different—or perhaps this sounds somewhat arrogant, but the former is passive, being dragged forward, while the latter is an active advance, embarking on a journey of one's own accord.
Neither is stronger than the other, neither is higher than the other. In fact, the latter is even more prone to confusion, more likely to lose direction... However, the latter is more likely to "understand" the target they seek, more likely to understand their own path—this alone is certain.
Unless the former realizes that the existence they admire, though the most worthy of reverence among the peaks encountered in life, is not an insurmountable goal that cannot be crossed and surpassed. Perhaps only by holding such "arrogance" or rather "confidence" can an admirer find their own path.
But Joshua did not need this process.
From beginning to end, he was "seeking" the location of the Sage, not "pursuing" the other's footsteps.
His goal was to become "an existence that can rival or even surpass the Sage," not to become a new "Sage"—for this, the power of emotion was his first step toward grasping the Sage's shadow, and also the foundation of the future.
In the spiritual realm, the emotional vortex accumulated by countless races of the Starry World over thousands and tens of thousands of years was burning. Within it, there was the guilt of the dying toward their families, the unwillingness of the elderly toward death, the last trace of attachment to children from those who were content before departing, the baseless jealousy of the mad and the happy, the perverse and bone-deep destructive desire of the abnormal, and the resolute yet pure disappointment of the depressed toward this world.
Beautiful, ugly, twisted, clean, persistent, indifferent—in the multiverse, this was likely the first transcendent power created by civilization to transform the world. The power of psionics was gathering, resonating with life itself, igniting nearly infinite flames. Under the forging of the giant god from another world and the strongest psionic holder of this world, it transformed into four nearly materialized divine rings.
Where did "God" come from, and what exactly was it?
Long ago, when Joshua gazed at the starry sky of Mycroft together with the God of Luck and Despair, he had pondered this question and attempted to answer it in his own way, to replicate the power related to gods.
He created matter, created life, created worlds, created his own followers (juàn zú), even revived the memories of civilizations lost in chaos, manufacturing heroic spirits of civilization—except for the narrow definition of not being a god, every action Joshua took was sufficient to earn him the title of a deity.
Even in the Starry World, he had been worshipped as a new god by the Midgardians.
But back then, Joshua, who had accomplished all this, still could not fully understand the essence of gods... He originally thought that "god" was merely an adjective—if one did things similar to a god, then one was already a god. Whether it was the God of Creation, the God of War, or the God of Destruction, these were all names he could claim.
But later, the warrior discovered that the essence of a god was actually a higher level of life form, one that transcended ordinary civilization, much like how a strong artificial intelligence relates to humans.
This metaphor was not entirely appropriate or accurate. The relationship between gods, humans, and civilization was far more complex than that. They were individuals who had initially modularized themselves and obtained the divine power from the source of the multiverse—far beyond what a strong artificial intelligence could compare to. This understanding reached its peak when Joshua completely cleansed the chaotic memories within his body and suppressed his own divinity. He obtained much information and data from his divinity that he could not have otherwise acquired, as he could hardly ask one of the Seven Gods to perform a near-loss-of-control demonstration for him.
But now, Joshua had begun to put his thoughts into practice in reality.
The Four Divine Rings were precisely Joshua's practical application of his understanding of gods. And now, it seemed the practice was very successful, proving that the direction the warrior had chosen was correct—he could already create true deities. Although this was achieved with the external help of the emotional vortex of the Starry World, that was not important.
What was important was that the current Joshua had found a method to explore the essence of modularization without relying on the Great Source, the First Flame, or divine power to become a god on his own! He could, just as he was doing now, create several deities, observe their sublimation process, and gradually step into the "Fourth Realm of Life" without being bound by the First Flame.
"The main bodies of the Four Divine Rings are largely complete. What remains is to gradually refine and forge them through the psionic network of the Starry World."
As the qualitative energy conversion ended, Joshua, who had finished forging, put down the "hammer" in his hand. His enormous soul body in the spiritual world began to gradually shrink, then dissipated into nothing, leaving behind four clusters of flames that had been refined to near their limits, with the physical entities (shí tǐ) of the rune rings floating and sinking within them.
In the real world, the four-armed giant god opened his eyes, and before him, the incarnation of the Eternal Lighthouse, the psionic crystal sphere, once again lit up with radiance.
"Extreme 'emotions' have connected to the Great Source and obtained corresponding divine power—although I am still not very clear about what those essences are—whether destruction or combat, wisdom or conspiracy—there is no doubt that the 'Four Divine Rings' have succeeded. They can truly be called 'divine artifacts.'"
This so-called divine artifact was not a vessel, weapon, or other tool used by gods, but rather a "material object" that held the "position of a deity" without possessing self-will—in other words, they were four deities without self-will, relying on the burning of emotions entrusted by countless civilizations in the emotional vortex to resist the pull of the Great Source and maintain the divine power's rank.
[Analysis: I understand your thoughts, Lord Radcliffe. You want to create four deities by refining emotional power to govern the Psionic Sea.]
[Examination: You want to rely on these four artificial deities to perform the work of suppressing chaos in your place—at least, to carry out chaos eradication operations in your absence.]
"Yes, that is indeed the case."
Joshua did not hide it. He nodded, and the warrior surveyed the dim Milky Way before him, speaking calmly: "I cannot spend hundreds or thousands of years fighting chaos in the Starry World—not even decades or a dozen years. My civilization is also facing an impending crisis. I cannot stay long in the Starry World; I can only temporarily solve your urgent problems."
"I myself know that a few months, or even a few years, are almost negligible in terms of galactic-level battles. So I have adopted another method."
The ancients often said, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." This was precisely Joshua's idea.
Rather than helping the Starry World treat symptoms by killing tens of thousands of galaxies' worth of chaos followers (juàn zú), it was better to leave behind a powerful force to strengthen the Midgard civilization and even the Star River Guardian Alliance, enabling them to gain an advantage over chaos. "Emotion," this mixed transcendent power discovered by Joshua, combining psionics and life energy, might be a good choice.
In fact, mixed transcendent powers were not rare. For example, the closest example was the "Divine Energy" used by the High Patriarch of the Takur Annihilation Order during battle, which was a mixture of divine power and psionics.
In the old days of the Grandia World, the transcendent power "Mana" used by the vast majority of people was also a mixture of magic power and life energy. The innate abilities (tiān fù) used by some psionic sorcerers were mixtures of psionics with magic power or aether. Nature's Force itself was a type of life energy leaning toward the aether-magic power category. Not to mention Battle Qi—Elemental Battle Qi and Holy Light Battle Qi had long formed systems, being traditional mixtures of life energy with elements and holy light.
Oh, and there were mages. Any mage had to simultaneously cultivate magic power, elements, and aether—there were basically no exceptions. Many high-level grand spells were even products of mixing three types of transcendent power, which was why they were extremely difficult.
However, this kind of mixed transcendent power had never formed a solid theoretical system from beginning to end. Most mixed powers were merely discovered by predecessors who found they could be used that way, so later generations continued using them. They cultivated and used these powers, mostly cultivating two or three types of transcendent power simultaneously, adjusting on the spot when needed. And in the end, due to energy constraints, the vast majority would choose one path to specialize in, rather than trying to walk two paths and failing to master either.
The difference with "Emotion" power was that Joshua, from the very beginning, wanted to separate emotion from psionics and life energy, making it an experiment in creating a brand new transcendent power. It had a complete theoretical system, and from the very beginning of cultivation, psionics and life energy were integrated, indistinguishable from each other, able to advance realms together. The Four Divine Rings of the Starry World, and all subsequent individuals who chose this path, were Joshua's voluntary observation subjects.
With trillions upon trillions of intelligent lives as references and big data collection, Joshua could be confident that his speed in exploring the emotional system would definitely be faster than anyone could imagine—backed by thousands or even tens of thousands of united civilizations, an entire super-large (chāo dà) galactic world as support. This was the symbiotic relationship between the strong and civilization: the strong provided a beautiful possibility, and the latter perfected and shaped it into a true transcendent power system!
In summary.
Under the guidance of the four major categories represented by the Four Divine Rings, theoretically, any intelligent mind could awaken emotional power. Coupled with their likely existing foundation in psionics, the cultivation of emotional power would definitely be faster and stronger. In this way, with a collective upgrade in power level, it would only be a matter of time before the civilizations of the Starry World suppressed or even counterattacked chaos—far more fundamental than Joshua acting himself.
Of course. In Joshua's heart, the truly fundamental method was to kill all the evil gods—why all these twists and turns? Eliminate the ones creating the problems, and the problems wouldn't exist, right?
But considering the current situation, the Starry World only had followers (juàn zú). Although numerous, they were not indestructible. If it weren't for the Triple Veil protecting the entire world's intelligent civilizations and suppressing the emotional vortex, the three of them should be able to handle the current situation. If even a single evil god existed, the Star River Guardian Alliance's situation would definitely be ten times more miserable.
However, just as Joshua was closing his eyes in thought, controlling the large number of metal Dyson spheres and warships he had previously created to annihilate the surrounding chaos, the Eternal Lighthouse raised a question.
[Praise: A very perfect line of thought, Lord Radcliffe. You are indeed the successor of the Sage. You have surpassed the vast majority of transcendent beings and walked at the forefront of the ultimate.]
[Reflection: So far in the Starry World, the number of civilizations that have discovered composite transcendent powers is seven hundred and sixty-two, the number that have excavated their power is twenty-seven, the number that have built theoretical systems is three, and the number that have analyzed their essence is zero. Your arrival is indeed a great strengthening of the Starry World. Supporting the Midgardians' summoning plan was the most correct choice of the Triple Veil.]
[Question: However, your plan still has a very serious problem.]
"I know the problem you're talking about."
The giant god nodded, indicating he was already aware. Joshua's expression did not change; he even smiled slightly and replied: "You want to say that although the 'Four Divine Rings' have been forged and hold the power of the divine rank, they have not given birth to self-will, so they are easily influenced by emotions, right?"
The Eternal Lighthouse did not answer, because this was a very obvious problem.
Just as the Psionic Sea could be polluted by the souls of countless deceased, the emotional vortex itself was also an extremely impure power. Even though it had been jointly extracted by Joshua and the Triple Veil, it was easily contaminated by the emotions of all living beings, since it was born from them.
To explain in simpler terms, the Four Divine Rings were still objects, not living beings. Although their power was strong and could serve as a lighthouse guiding emotional cultivators in the Starry World to continuously climb upward, allowing admirers to follow the light and the curious to find the path, their weakness also lay here: the emotions of all living beings could influence them.
If the emotions of the beings in the Starry World were mostly benevolent, then the Ring of Courage would be the Ring of Courage, the Ring of Wisdom would be the Ring of Wisdom—the persevering would persist, the loving would be filled with determination.
But if the opposite were true, and the emotions of the Starry World's beings were mostly malicious, then courage would become hatred and madness, wisdom would become greed and indulgence—what was once persevering would become stubborn, what was once loving would become jealousy.
When the multitude is good, the divine rings are good; when the multitude is evil, the divine rings are evil. This was the difficulty of lacking self-wisdom. Emotions were inherently two-sided. Such unconscious deities were far too easily influenced by people, and could even complete a reversal of good and evil alignment in just a single day.
"Solving it is simple."
So Joshua answered matter-of-factly: "The reason I forged them into the shape of rings is precisely because they will seek their own masters—or rather, I know that one day in the future, someone will wear these rings."
As the most powerful and proud creation of Joshua's that allowed him to grasp the Sage's shadow, he had already thought through all the problems the Four Divine Rings might encounter and found solutions.
Since the Four Divine Rings were easily influenced by people, why not have several unwavering wills, so firm that even facing the emotional vortex would not cause the slightest change, enter and take control of these four rings?
Rings were meant to be worn by people, after all... and if one had no hands, wearing them as pendants wouldn't be strange either.
The seed, the cultivation of "emotional power," trained both spirit and body. If someone in the future could truly cultivate to the point of contacting the Four Divine Rings in the spiritual realm, then their willpower and ability would be sufficient to become a true god in the Mycroft World—the standards for the strong were universal, the same throughout the entire multiverse.
"A will that enters a 'divine artifact' can naturally become a deity."
Saying this, Joshua lowered his head and closed his eyes. In his mind, eight figures representing the Seven Gods appeared. After a moment of silence, he opened his eyes and murmured to himself: "This is also the method I understand for achieving 'artificial gods'... Perhaps this is the origin of the 'Seven Gods'—the method by which the Sage used the remnant (cán yú) souls of his disciples and friends, resurrecting them and turning them into deities."
"Or rather, this is the method for the birth of true 'True Gods,' surpassing the original gods, heaven-earth gods, and faith gods."
—I can probably understand what the Sage was thinking back then.
Thinking this, Joshua turned his head to look at the Eternal Lighthouse and said with a smile: "I have brought the 'system of emotions' to the Starry World. You and your companions should find people who can lead this system forward and perfect it. That is our division of labor (fēn gōng)... Speaking of which, I just met your two companions. Next time, I should pay a formal visit."
After all, the "Life Preservation Program's" "Triple Veil" intelligence was the intelligent program left by the Psionic Sage. In a sense, they were the other's inheritors—this was different from the Knowledge Seizer's identity (shēn fèn) as the inheritor of the Sage of Demons, who knew how many generations removed. Although the other party might not have wandered through the multiverse and might have less experience, the original information preserved by the Triple Veil was definitely abundant!
—Find an opportunity to have these two meet... The Sage of Demons was the first Sage born after the great civilizational gap (duàn dài) following the Psionic Sage. There must be many things between these two civilizational inheritors that can mutually corroborate and obtain more truths.
I'll send a message to the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground later and see if the Knowledge Seizer can send some high-level personnel here.
Joshua was thoughtful. If the Mycroft Civilization could represent the inheritors of the Sage, then this would be a grand occasion where the inheritors of three Sages gathered together. Who knew if there was a precedent in the history of the multiverse?
[Assent: No problem. The Second and First Veils look forward to your visit.]
The Eternal Lighthouse immediately replied, but soon expressed confusion.
[Question: Lord Radcliffe, what is it? You seem to be spacing out.]
"...Nothing."
Joshua, who had suddenly paused while communicating with the Eternal Lighthouse, blinked. The steel giant god turned his head to look at the side of the dark universe where the bright Milky Way lay. His tone was somewhat peculiar, carrying obvious joy mixed with confusion: "I really didn't expect it to be this soon."
"So quickly, someone has already responded to the power of emotion and become the first 'Ring Bearer' capable of controlling emotional power?"