Rebirth : The Alchemist's Path

"Let's go, follow me inside."

Sylvus stood at the entrance, smiling faintly at the three brothers.

The McKen brothers were startled. Sylvus had indeed made it here.

"Brother Sylvus, why aren't the sentinels moving?"

The three rushed to Sylvus's side, their curiosity evident.

"You'll find out once you're inside," Sylvus replied, turning and walking further in.

The brothers exchanged glances and quickly followed.

Upon entering the fortress, they were once again taken aback.

A group of Deity King-level sentinels stood in the hall, their mere presence emitting an aura that made the three shudder.

As they ventured deeper, they realized that Deity Kings were just the beginning. They soon encountered Deity Sovereign-level sentinels in large numbers.

When they finally reached a grand hall, they were speechless. Over a hundred Deity Emperor-level sentinels stood there, their overwhelming presence silencing the brothers.

"So, they really are from the Spirit Clan!"

As the three stood in awe, the orb floated over to them, its icy voice breaking the silence.

"Y-You… You're the Demon Spirit?"

McKen quickly regained his composure, recognizing the orb.

It was said that every generation of Deity Emperor in the demon race had a Demon Spirit. While it didn't possess great strength, the Demon Spirit carried the heritage of the entire demon race. As long as the Demon Spirit remained, the demon race could not be truly eradicated.

"At least one of you has some knowledge. Your Spirit Clan dares to step foot on demon territory? Did the Supreme Deity send you?" the Demon Spirit scoffed coldly.

The three brothers exchanged looks, their eyes filled with complexity.

They understood why the Demon Spirit held such hostility toward them. After all, the current Supreme Deity had been put into power by the Spirit Clan.

"We no longer have any ties to the Supreme Deity. In fact, he's hunting down our Spirit Clan now," McKen said helplessly.

"Hunting the Spirit Clan? Ha! Serves you right! If it weren't for you, the other races wouldn't have suffered such catastrophe back then," the Demon Spirit laughed bitterly, satisfaction evident in its tone.

The three brothers remained silent. They had anticipated the demon race's reaction toward them. The fact that they hadn't been killed outright was already fortunate.

"This Supreme Deity, isn't he from your Spirit Clan? Why is he now targeting you?" Sylvus asked curiously, looking at the three brothers.

After a brief exchange of glances, they nodded in agreement.

"Since you want to know, we'll tell you. It's not really a secret anymore," McKen began.

"The truth is, the Supreme Deity is not actually from our Spirit Clan. In fact, we don't even know his real name or what he looks like."

"You don't even know what he looks like? And yet you helped him?" Sylvus asked incredulously.

No wonder the Spirit Clan was being hunted down now—they hadn't even bothered to uncover the truth about their supposed ally.

"Back then, one of our clan's sages had reached the Nine-Star Deity Emperor level. During an exploration of a mysterious space, he came across an artifact. That artifact is where the Supreme Deity emerged from," McKen explained.

"After the Supreme Deity appeared, his power was so overwhelming that not even our sage could resist. In the end, the Supreme Deity took over the sage's mind."

"When he returned to our clan, none of us noticed anything amiss. Then one day, he proposed that our Spirit Clan should seek even greater power, and that to achieve it, we needed to unite the entire divine realm."

"At first, we refused. But he soon demonstrated his incredible strength, and many in our clan were ambitious. So, in the end, we agreed. We didn't realize at the time that our sage had already been taken over by the Supreme Deity."

"That's how we ended up in conflict with the divine realm, leading to the chaos you now know of," McKen continued.

"But once the Supreme Deity had unified the divine realm, he no longer hid his identity. He revealed himself and began hunting down our Spirit Clan, intending to build his own divine realm."

"Fortunately, our clan's prophets sensed the danger and managed to evacuate some of our people in advance. But even so, the Spirit Clan suffered heavy losses, and now we're barely surviving."

After hearing McKen's story, both Sylvus and the Demon Spirit were astonished. They hadn't expected such a complicated backstory.

Though the Spirit Clan had suffered greatly, Sylvus felt no sympathy.

If the Spirit Clan hadn't been so ambitious, the Supreme Deity wouldn't have been able to create such chaos. The fact that the Supreme Deity needed their help back then showed that he hadn't been strong enough to unite the divine realm on his own.

The Spirit Clan's downfall was only natural.

"What was the artifact you mentioned?" Sylvus asked after a moment of thought.

He was curious about the object from which the Supreme Deity had emerged, especially given the Supreme Deity's immense power.

"According to our ancient texts, it was called a world shard," McGi answered from the side.

"A world shard?"

Sylvus was momentarily stunned. That again?

He already had one world shard in his possession. Now, there was the shard sealed within the unborn Demon Lord, and another in the hands of the Supreme Deity. That made three shards in total.

"This is getting more and more interesting," Sylvus thought, smiling faintly. He was now even more intrigued by the purpose of the world shards.

The Supreme Deity had emerged from a world shard, and his power had already far surpassed that of a Nine-Star Deity Emperor.

Could these world shards be connected to another world?

Or perhaps beings like the Supreme Deity were sealed within the shards.

But why was there nothing inside the world shard he had?

He decided not to bother asking his system—he knew it wouldn't tell him. Exploring the mystery on his own would be much more interesting.

"So, why are you here?" the Demon Spirit asked coldly.

Even after hearing the Spirit Clan's plight, the Demon Spirit wasn't about to forgive them. After all, it was because of the Spirit Clan that countless races had been devastated, and the demon race had nearly been wiped out.

"Ten thousand years have passed, and our Spirit Clan has managed to recover some of our strength. We want to seek out other races in the divine realm to atone for our past mistakes," McKen replied earnestly.

"Atonement? Don't make me laugh. My demon race suffered millions of casualties. What could you possibly offer in return?" the Demon Spirit sneered.

The three brothers were at a loss for words. They knew the blame rested on their clan.

"Enough. You're all in the same boat now. There's no point in arguing. Let's focus on what's in front of us," Sylvus interjected, waving his hand dismissively.

Since Sylvus had spoken, the Demon Spirit didn't argue further. After all, the future of the demon race depended entirely on him now.

"Demon Spirit, when will those outside arrive?" Sylvus asked.

"They'll likely reach us in about two days. The sentinels along the way will slow them down, but they won't be able to stop them," the Demon Spirit replied after some thought.

"Find me the path they'll have to take, and withdraw the sentinels from around it. I'll give them a nice surprise," Sylvus said with a grin.

It was time to test his new strength.