Chapter 2035: Chapter 2035: The Avatars

It was not a coincidence that the Dongfang Clan had sent Duke there. It was a calculated move.

This was not the first debate, neither was it the first time the True Gods of the wealthy clans on the Floating Islands had participated in the said debate. It had all happened previously.

For the alliance of the wealthy clans, they only needed to prevent anyone from obtaining the inheritance of the skeleton.

The easiest way to achieve this was to place a ferocious beast that no one could defeat in the debate venue.

Contrary to accustomed belief, Duke had not gone to the Abyss Demon Region to gain experience. Instead, under the leadership of the consummate True Gods, he had undergone the most fearsome experience.

The fear was rooted deep in his heart. Right after, he was sent to participate in the debate.

Under the influence of the debate venue, the seed of fear began to sprout in him bit by bit, threatening to spread on his insides.

“My God! What is in the mist?” With his eyes wide like a pair of saucers, Wesley stared at Duke in dismay.

Duke shook his head helplessly and laughed, sharp bitterness resonating in the sound. “We are all going to die,” he said quietly.

“What?! How dare you bring me here? I quit!” Wesley sputtered, his mouth twisting. Disbelief etched his features.

Although he knew that the debate venue was rife with danger, he felt it was incredibly insensitive of Duke to bring him and the others here, since it was apparent that all of them were about to die. Duke had effectively thrown them into the beast's den.

“Our clan has kept the wisps of your souls before we came here,” Duke continued earnestly. “The reason why our clan cultivates us is that they hope we can repay them someday in the future. The debate this time is of utmost importance, so we have to take it seriously.”

As Wesley listened to this, his eyes twitched.

“It's not so simple to defeat the fears in our hearts.”

“That's correct. Usually, what we fear the most is stronger than ourselves.”

“I have been wondering why no one has stepped into this debate venue for so many years. It turns out that this is simply a dead end!”

Many people began to regret coming here.

Not everyone was able to pluck up their courage to face the worst fears in their heart.

“It's only that you must face them. Of course you cannot defeat them,” Reinhard said with a faint smile. “The courage in your hearts will support you through thick and thin!”

“What do you mean?” someone asked.

Reinhard pointed at the ground.

Only then did the rest of them see the complicated lines on the ground, forming one unique array after another. The designs were a sight to behold.

“Use the Truth of Godly Way that you have comprehended to summon the powerful avatars. This is what the debate venue gives you,” Reinhard said.

“Powerful avatars?”

“It can be done merely through one's imagination?”

“The deeper our understanding of the Truth of Godly Way, the more powerful the avatars would be. Am I correct?”

Contemplating on this, the True Gods seemed to sense a glimmer of hope once again.

“Is it possible to summon an avatar of anything I imagine?” Zen asked curiously.

Reinhard shook his head. “No, it is just the same as fear. The avatar is the thing you rely the most on in your subconsciousness; it's something that gives you the strongest sense of security.” ℞𝒶Ŋ𝘰ᛒÈS̩

“I see.” Zen nodded.

Driven by curiosity, they walked over to the center of the arrays.

Yan smiled at Zen before flying over gracefully. Soon she was occupying an array.

Buzz!

Zen sensed Yan emanate a soft aura. He could not tell what kind of Truth of Godly Way she was practicing, but the momentum she exuded was undoubtedly remarkable, which meant that Yan had a deep understanding of it.

Little by little, streaks of purple light gathered and lit up beneath Yan's feet.

The light seemed to leap from one point to another before slowly transforming into a human shape.

'The person that Yan most trusts and gives her a sense of security should be Harold, ' Zen thought to himself. It was very likely that the avatar Yan summoned was Harold.

When Zen saw the avatar's appearance and clothes, however, he was so taken aback that he retreated a few steps.

He did not expect Yan's avatar to be himself!

The purple avatar was not the present Zen, however, but the one back in Central Region.

Compared to the present Zen, the avatar looked younger, the expression in its eyes more naive.

This had been the impression of Zen in Yan's heart back then.

In terms of strength, Harold was far more powerful than Zen in Yan's eyes.

However, ever since Yan had entered the divine land, she did not encounter any great crisis. Perhaps it was because she hid in the Everest Spirit Mountain and stayed in an absolutely safe state. Therefore, she did not need to depend on Harold and seek out his help.

When she had been in the Central Region, however, she had suffered much hardship. Her brother had been her only hope.

Zen seemed to be the only person she could rely on most then.

“It's really my brother,” Yan said with a smile and looked over to Zen. “I wonder who is more powerful. Is it you, or my avatar? Do you want to compete with it?”

With a long nameless sword in its hand, Yan's avatar looked young and energetic, its eyes exceedingly sharp. Although it was only at the Internal Elixir Realm, its strength was not conditional on its cultivation level because it was an avatar.

As soon as Yan finished her words, the avatar wielded its sword at Zen.

“Stop it,” Zen said, smiling slowly.

By this point, many True Gods too had summoned their own avatars.

“Hey! Somehow your avatar is a black wolf!”

“Why is it a wolf? I was thinking of the Holy Emperor of my clan!”

“Why is my avatar a sword?”

The elements that many people relied on were not necessarily the most powerful existences.

Rather, they were the ones that they relied on at their most vulnerable time.

The first True God had been saved by a black wolf, which had left a deep impression in his mind. Now unconsciously, he had summoned its avatar in the shape of black wolf.

The strength of the avatar was dependent on one's understanding of the Truth of Godly Way.

Even if one's avatar was a Holy Being, the avatar could not be as strong as the Holy Being himself.

“It's my turn,” Zen said as he stepped into an array.

'The stronger the Truth of Godly Way, the stronger the avatar. This rule must have been set by the skeleton intentionally.' Zen closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

Obviously, the skeleton set such a barrier in order to choose the right one to inherit its legacy.

The person must be utterly sensitive to the Truth of Godly Way.

However, the kind of Truth of Godly Way they cultivated was not important.

What was the purpose of the skeleton?

As Zen pondered on the answer, he began to recite the Truth of Godly Way slowly in his head.

The Truth of Cultivation Nature began to revolve and Zen emitted an extraordinarily unique aura.

In the divine land, the True Gods did not comprehend many Truths of Godly Ways.

Most of the True Gods present had comprehended less than ten percent of a Truth of Godly Way.

Reinhard, Duke, Tyrone Mu, and Ellis Fang all had comprehended a little more because of the inheritance of their clans. However, they too could only reach twenty percent of the criteria.

It was not that they did not want to comprehend more, but they were unable to find a complete text of the Truth of Godly Way in the divine land.

What Zen had received, however, was a complete one.

He had not fully comprehended the Truth of Cultivation Nature and was unable to recite the last part no matter how hard he tried, but he still managed to comprehend almost ninety percent of it.

As he employed the Truth of Godly Way, a natural aura converted into specks of light and occupied the array underneath his feet, intermingling with the designs.

That aura was so intense that it attracted the attention of the others as Zen employed it.