Kauze's soul felt as if it was exposed to a strong, windy force within the Cauldron that could snuff it out at any time. The strength of his consciousness, coupled with the Cauldron's ability to manipulate souls, allowed Han Shuo to extract all of Kauze's life experience - even the memories he'd forgotten. As long as there was a remnant of it left, Han Shuo would be able to use soul scouring to reconstruct it.
Han Shuo's consciousness spread out in Kauze's mind like a web that latched onto his soul and dug up memories from the depths of his psyche. As a life cultivator of this level, Kauze no longer had a fixed life span. In his long life, he had experienced all sorts of defining moments, so it would take Han Shuo at least a day or two to properly comb through his memories. After all, Kauze had lived for ten thousand years, so he had an ocean of experience to speak of.
Han Shuo wasn't interested in his daily affairs, nor was he a pervert who enjoyed prying into his most private moments, so he focused on his goal while searching. Something concerning the survival of the Godhunters was undoubtedly one of Kauze's most important thoughts, usually shining brighter than the others. They passed quickly before the one Han Shuo wanted appeared in front of him.
His soul wrapped itself around this deep memory and used the Soul Wipe on it to replay the memories. It was something that had happened centuries ago, relatively recent on the time scale they lived by. Back then, Kauze hadn't yet become an Overgod or a Godhunter, and was just a tribal chief in the Life Dominion.
Not only was he not a godhunter, he was someone who discriminated against them. Once, when he was fighting Godhunters in the Life Dominion, he was betrayed by a cousin in his tribe and trapped in a valley by the Godhunters.
It didn't take long for the tribesmen with him to be slaughtered by the Godhunters, including his wife and child, while he was held back by other Godhunters. He was powerless to do anything as he watched his wife raped and his son drawn and quartered. It was something seared into his memory.
The Hegemon at that time was only a late stage Highgod, but Kauze was an early stage Highgod and had no choice but to take it all without being able to do anything about it. Before that, he was someone who actively hunted Godhunters in the various cities of the Life Dominion, making him their arch-enemy. However, the Hegemon of the Life Dominion managed to capture him, and Kauze learned something about Godhunters from him.
This person had told him that Godhunters were an integral part of Elysium. The existence of every single god would cause there to be too much energy of their particular type. If the type of energy in Elysium crossed a threshold, the balance of energy would shift and affect the Quintessence Overgods in a very negative way.
As a result, he told Kauze that the Godhunters would never disappear from Elysium, as their presence helped to cull the number of Gods in Elysium to prevent such an event. They were essentially pest control for the Quintessence Overgods. He denied any justification for Kauze's actions, calling them a fool's errand. The Goddess of Life allowed the battles between the Gods and the Godhunters to take place. Even the death of his own subordinates wasn't really a bad thing.
In the end, Kauze managed to survive. Guards from various cities of the Life Dominion arrived in the nick of time and rescued Kauze after only a portion of his divine power had been absorbed. Having lost much of it, his powers were greatly diminished. When he returned home, he found that his traitorous cousin had taken his place as the new leader of the tribe. Needless to say, Kauze was easily defeated and banished from the tribe.
Betrayed, his family gone and his power stripped from him, he changed completely and gave up his faith in the Goddess of Life. Seeking revenge, he became one of the maddest godhunters, beginning by consuming the weaker gods and slowly regaining his own divine power. In a century, he managed to kill his cousin and the other tribesmen who had turned their backs on him. Even the Hegemon, who had once subjugated him, couldn't escape him. Kauze tortured his soul by burning it with poison for two hundred years, slowly roasting it away to cause as much suffering as possible. He became the new Hegemon of the Life Dominion and quickly grew in power to become an Overgod.
Han Shuo exhaled as he carefully kept Kauze's soul in a special corner of the cauldron. He used the power of the Cauldron to purge the impurities from his soul, leaving only the purest essence of his understanding of the arcane laws of life for Han Mu.
"Sigh, he's a pitiful soul too." After learning of his experiences, Han Shuo no longer felt any hatred for Kauze. He was just as much a victim of circumstance and despair. After all, there was no way he could get his revenge after losing his power. Since he had nothing left to lose after everything had been taken away from him, including his fate for years, it wasn't surprising that he did what he did.
"Father, is it true that Godhunters exist for a reason?" Han Hao asked after Han Shuo told him what he could.
Nodding, Han Shuo said, "Too many gods will cause there to be too much energy. If any of the twelve types grow too much, it will result in something that the Quintessence Overgods don't like. So the Godhunters exist to maintain this balance."
Han Shuo immediately remembered the upcoming battle that would take place before the opening of the Aethernia mentioned by the Goddess of Destiny and the God of Light, which would cause even more gods to die. Was the death of gods another prerequisite for the opening of Aethernia? Periodically, Elysium would see a great battle in which many gods would fall. Many talented geniuses perished before they could reach their full potential.
And at all these crucial moments, the Goddess of Destiny would appear to calm things down. At the time, Han Shuo didn't know why this kept happening, why the Goddess waited for years of fighting to pass before stepping in to resolve the conflict. Part of the answer was found in Kauze's memories, which informed some of Han Shuo's own guesses.
"Balance?" Han Hao said suddenly, "Father, are you saying that the Twelve Great Overgods tacitly allow the Godhunters to exist?"
"I'm sure you've seen how powerful Judas and Nestor are. Either of them will be able to wipe out all the Godhunters in the Twelve Divine Dominions. Not to mention, Andrina said that even the Goddess of Destiny couldn't vanquish the Godhunters who killed her lover. Andrina herself nearly died from being drained. Yet the Goddess didn't do anything. I think Kauze's explanation has some merit. There's no reason why the Twelve Great Overgods would tolerate the existence of the Godhunters unless there was a good reason for them to do so.
"So even if I unite the Godhunters and attack the Twelve Divine Dominions, the Twelve Great Overgods won't interfere in my affairs?" Han Hao said as his eyes glowed.
"Of course, if you act in their interests, they won't harm you." After some thought, Han Shuo continued, "However, the gods who live in the Twelve Divine Dominions provide them with power through their faith. Essentially, they need that power, but they also can't let the number of gods grow too much, so it's a fine balance. So there are limits to how much you can do. Otherwise, the Twelve Great Overgods will turn against you, and we are still no match for them, so you must be careful".
"Understood, Father. I will do just that."
At that moment, two high-pitched whimpers could be heard approaching from the distance. Soon, Salas and Wasir arrived at Han Shuo's side. Salas seemed rather agitated as he said, "Bryan, the divine guards of the Twelve Divine Dominions are marching into the Fringe. It seems they're here to deal with us and the Godhunters."
Han Shuo nodded. "If they want to keep the balance, they can't allow the Godhunter Alliance to become too powerful. There are probably too many of them right now, so they're trying to cull some numbers."
"What do we do, Father?"
Han Shuo looked at the frightened Godhunters who had lost their seven Hegemons and said, "You are the new leader of the Godhunters. You can decide what to do. I think you should take them under your wing first."
"Understood."