Aslan watches from a tall tree.
Below him, five humans fight a wolf with scaly skin.
Three men and two women wear robes.
They are dressed like cultivators in Chinese costume dramas.
Thousands of years ago, humans lived in tribes.
Now their civilisation looks advanced.
Their skill in battling this extraordinary wolf demon does not concern him.
This world is extraordinary.
The wolf howls loudly.
It is losing.
Unable to escape means death is near.
But Aslan cannot allow the wolf to die.
It is a beast of his territory.
Except for natural death or killing among themselves,
No outsiders can kill anything inside his territory.
The forest is his domain.
He marked it after mastering the Authority of Spores.
He spread spores along the forest's edge.
Life entering becomes confused and turns back outside.
Beings inside cannot leave.
His body turns into mist.
He appears in the middle of the fight.
He releases only a slight aura.
A full release would kill them by pressure alone.
His slight aura freezes the fight.
The humans and the wolf stand like statues.
He gathers his aura back.
The wolf whimpers.
He understands the wolf's thought: "God."
He speaks into the wolf's mind, ordering it to leave.
The wolf scampers away.
His attention shifts to the five humans.
They know he watches.
Their eyes show fear.
He says, "How did you enter my forest?"
The five humans exchange glances.
One steps forward, fear shaking his voice as he stutters, "Great Being, I am Mi Jin. We are from the Divine Sword Sect. We entered the forest by the item bestowed by the God of War."
Aslan's attention sharpens at the mention of the God of War.
He calmly says, "Show me the item."
Mi Jin hesitates, trembling.
Aslan's eyes narrow. "Do you want to die?"
Mi Jin's voice falters, "Great Being, the air here is poisonous with it; I will die."
Aslan replies, "Give me the item. Nothing will happen to you."
Mi Jin reluctantly pulls a necklace from beneath his robe.
He unties it slowly, then releases it into Aslan's waiting palm.
Aslan feels the authority within the necklace—stronger than his other three authorities but weaker than his Authority of Plague.
He waves his hand to hypnotise the five humans.
Their bodies freeze, standing like statues.
Aslan starts asking questions in his mind about the outside world, wanting to know how it is after ten thousand years.
He could calculate facts himself, but numbers do not hold the truth of human experience.
The humans walk out of the forest and come to their senses.
Their memories stop at the moment Mi Jin handed him the necklace.
Aslan disperses into mist and returns to his hidden clearing.
He does not come out because of the fighting.
The reason lies deeper.
Even after reincarnation, his past life memories remain.
A treasure inside his sea of consciousness awakens—a mysterious structure that looks like a wheel, called the Professional Wheel.
It was hidden deep before, but it stirs now.
It awakens because he has received a reward from the world.
He slightly understands the Authority of Disease and connects it with his Innate Authority of Plague.
But the Authority of Disease is not the first.
After gaining control of his Innate Authority of Plague, Aslan feels a rush of power.
A feeling of control over the entire world surges through him.
That feeling fades.
But he remembers.
He wants it to become a reality.
So he begins comprehending other Authorities that might increase the power of his Innate Authority of Plague.
First, he understands and connects to the Authority of Spores.
Then to the Authority of Poison.
Without interruption, he would continue absorbing more Authorities.
But suddenly, the Wheel appears inside his sea of consciousness.
The Wheel unveils itself before him.
It shows him his strength level:
Three stars.
It displays the laws he comprehended:
Plague (Low - 0.1), Spores (Basic - 33.2%), Poison (Basic - 22.7%), Disease (Basic- 0.02%).
It reveals his professional similarities:
Plague Master - Three stars.
Spore Demon - Two and a half stars.
Poison Mage - Two stars.
Black Magician - Three and a half stars.
The Wheel shows him how much he has comprehended, according to the known Void Sea.
It also tells him which profession matches him best.
He chooses one — the profession that aligns with him.
But it will never come to fruition.
The Wheel is damaged.
It cannot employ him.
Still, it gives him information on how to be employed in the profession that matches him.
Except for the Black Magician profession, the others are useless.
His strength already stands at three stars, so they won't increase his power.
So Aslan begins examining the information about the Black Magician.
He studies what he must do to become one.
While Aslan studies the information, a floating island appears, surrounded by silver mist.
On the island stands a white and golden palace, encircled by a beautiful garden.
A man wearing golden robes bursts from the silver mist and waits outside the palace after sending out a small firebird toward the building.
Minutes later, he hears a voice in his mind: "Come in."
The man lands gracefully on the island, glancing at the divine spirits tending the garden.
Divine spirits are the lowest rank in the Upper Plane.
Yet each time he visits, he cannot help but notice they are far more beautiful and elegant than most mortal women.
He wonders when he can ascend to become a divine spirit himself.
So he can marry a divine spirit woman.
He walks past the garden toward the palace.
He enters a room where music plays softly.
A female divine spirit dances gracefully for a man lying on a mat, his head resting on another divine spirit's lap.
The man is Ignis—the God of War and Aslan's god.
Ignis's voice sounds in Aslan's mind, cutting through the music: "My chief priest, what brings you here?"
The priest bows his head and replies, "My lord, I have failed you."
Ignis asks, "What happened?"
The priest answers, "My lord, I failed to acquire the demon core of a poisonous demon."
Ignis says, "Are the disciples of the Divine Sword Sect even worth the item I bestowed?"
The priest replies, "They reportedly hunted a poisonous wolf, but a man stopped them."
Ignis says, "A man inside the Miasma Forest... he must be a demon king transformed into a human."
The priest nods, "I also think so, my lord. But the demon core of a poisonous demon is needed to refine the Earthy Ascension Pill."
Ignis asks, "Did they mention my name?"
The priest responds, "How dare they mention your name? They only spoke your title. The demon did not care."
Ignis smirks cruelly, "Let me see this demon who disrespects my name."
Ignis bursts into flames.
A fire meteor shoots from the Upper Plane toward the Middle Plane below.
After entering the mortal realm, it changes direction and hovers over the Miasma Forest.
Ignis frowns.
His spirit sense cannot probe the forest.
The miasma surrounding it blocks his spirit sense.
He slowly descends, piercing the miasma wall, and lands in the forest.
In his hidden clearing, Aslan opens his eyes.
He senses the Authority of War from the man outside.
He knows who the man is.
But he has no interest in meeting him.
Ignis shouts, "Demon, you know why I come. Come out or I will burn your forest."
Deep within the miasma forest, a mirror hangs suspended.
In it, the form of Ignis appears.
A little girl watches and asks, "Father, why did a True Divine come into our forest?"
A slightly older boy answers, "He talks of a demon. Let's hand the demon over to him."
Others nearby echo his words.
The man hesitates, unsure how to calm the True Divine's anger.
Then a voice sounds.
An old man appears.
"Don't do anything," he says quietly.
"We are not masters of this forest."
"This decision must be made by the forest's master."
The older boy grumbles, "How can we, Sky Centipede Demons, not be the masters when seventy per cent of the demons here listen to us, grandfather?"
The old man shakes his head and watches silently.
Through the mirror, they see the True Divine suddenly start coughing violently.
He falls to one knee.
Then spores swirl and form a giant hand.
The hand grabs the True Divine and flings him outside the forest.
A voice booms, "Get lost."
The grandfather says calmly, "Now you understand who is master of the forest."
Ignis rolls on the ground, then stands with fear in his eyes.
The power that threw him out feels like that of the Lord of the Fire Elementals.
He coughs, uncertain what to do next.
Suddenly, the world shakes.
A wave of mourning emotion washes over him.
Someone important has died.
Aslan throws the fire elemental like a toy.
He is ready to return to his studies.
Then he feels it — the mourning of the world.
A tear slips from his eye.
As an Innate Demon, he is closely connected to the world.
He is more attuned to the world's emotions than most beings.
He calculates to find out who has died.
The answer stabs him: Fengqi, the Innate Demon of Purify.
How can Fengqi die?
Fengqi, Aslan, and the other Innate Demons cannot truly die or be killed.
They can only be sealed.
So how did Fengqi die?
Fengqi's death matters to him.
He doesn't know Fengqi.
But Fengqi is like him — an Innate Demon.
If Fengqi can die, then so can he.
He calculates further with mounting dread.
And then, he sighs in relief when he sees the results.