A faint glimmer flashed through Locke's eyes as his soul vision swept across the youth's soul.
Instantly, the hatred and sorrow emanating from the youth's soul moved even Locke.
Such powerful spirituality.
If this youth stepped onto the path of cultivation, then before the Saint-level it would be hard to say, but after reaching the Saint-level, this powerful spirituality would definitely provide tremendous assistance in comprehending the Laws.
The cultivation of the Laws Profound Mysteries was very difficult to rapidly improve through simple step-by-step practice.
One could even become stuck at certain bottlenecks, causing one's comprehension of the Laws Profound Mysteries to completely stagnate, unable to advance even the slightest bit further.
At times like these, "spirituality" became the possibility for lifeforms to continue breaking through.
And to put it plainly, "spirituality" was merely the emotional fluctuations of lifeforms and their interactions with the outside world.
Why did people always say children possessed "spirituality"?
It was because children experienced stronger emotional fluctuations and could easily interact with the outside world, receiving more information.
As they aged, however, children would inevitably grow up. Their emotional fluctuations would gradually calm, and their "spirituality" would naturally fade away.
Most cultivators possessed firm wills and an inexplicable obsession toward certain emotions.
Such perseverance allowed them to preserve their "spirituality" to the greatest extent possible, making the path of cultivation smooth and unobstructed.
But if one day they suffered some sort of stimulation that caused them to abandon their convictions, then unless they found even stronger emotions to hold onto, cultivators who lost their spirituality would find it difficult to achieve any major progress again for the rest of their lives.
From what Locke saw through his soul vision, the youth's anger and hatred were already almost enough to cause his soul to interact with the Laws of the world itself.
If the youth's spiritual force were just a bit stronger and he learned meditation, he would probably immediately enter a state of enlightenment.
"Before anything else, first tell me—how did you know I could make you stronger?"
Locke quietly asked the youth.
He was certain that he had never met this youth before.
After all, judging from the tattered cloth draped over the youth's body, if Locke had met him before, there was no way he would fail to remember him.
Because what the youth was wearing was precisely the final talisman of the Death Overgod mission that Locke had ordered Christina and the others to search for over several decades without any results—
The Blackstone Robe!
"Instinct!"
The youth blurted the answer out. After speaking, even he himself froze momentarily.
Indeed, because of the tremendous calamity he had suffered, the youth desperately longed for the power of revenge.
However, because he had escaped from the sea of flames without carrying any extra valuables, he had absolutely no tuition money to enter either a warrior academy or a magus academy.
Moreover, due to certain rather sensitive reasons, he suspected that if he appeared at a warrior academy or magus academy, within three days someone would likely arrive there to hunt him down.
Thus, the youth had wandered and begged for food all the way, fleeing farther and farther from large cities toward remote regions.
During his escape, the youth had also fantasized about encountering some hidden expert who would accept him as a disciple.
But unfortunately, in those remote villages and small towns, the so-called "hidden experts" were at most only rank three or four mid-level warriors.
Such "experts" probably weren't even comparable to the minor lackeys who had stormed into his home that night. How could he possibly learn from them any means to become stronger than those people?
However, the instant the youth saw Locke, he felt as though he had seen a "god."
It was a terrifying feeling that filled the youth with fear.
Thus, after seeing Locke, the youth had followed behind him the entire time, hoping to exchange everything he possessed for a chance to gain the power needed for revenge.
"Instinct, hm?"
Locke slightly nodded and did not feel the youth was deceiving him.
Leaving aside the emotions he observed through soul vision, Locke himself had possessed spirituality far stronger than ordinary people during his youth because of his overwhelming sense of crisis.
With the youth's spirituality, being able to sense the terrifying nature of the Edicts contained within Locke's Edicts clone was not surprising.
However, what surprised Locke even more was the timing at which this youth had approached him.
When the Chief Sovereign of Death told Locke she wanted to bear children, Locke had already begun considering how he would educate his future children.
Certainly, with the Netherfruit produced by the Chief Sovereign of Death's twin-born Underworld Sovereign body, his children would at minimum possess Prefect-level power. Combined with the Laws Sovereign artifacts forged by Locke, if their attributes matched, becoming comparable to Paragons would not be difficult at all.
Furthermore, if his children possessed affinity for multiple Laws, Locke could even use the illusion technique "Eye of Hell – Eighteen Levels of Hell" to stimulate them into becoming soul mutates.
However, Locke hoped his children could walk farther on the path of cultivation through their own efforts.
Therefore, if possible, it would be best not to rely on those things.
Paragons of earth, wind, water, and fire could touch upon the spatial Laws, while Paragons of light, darkness, and lightning could touch upon the temporal Laws.
If his children could independently comprehend these two Laws, then even without Sovereign sparks, they could still possess power comparable to Sovereigns.
And the prerequisite for all this was that Locke himself possessed abundant educational experience.
Along his path, Locke had guided quite a few people.
Ryan, Rocky Peak, Clifford, and even the strongest Sovereign Emissary under Locke now, Oakes, had all received Locke's guidance.
But before being guided by Locke, all these people had already formed their own understandings regarding cultivation.
What Locke mainly did was broaden their horizons and allow them to understand the road ahead and the direction of future cultivation.
The only person Locke had personally guided since childhood was his younger brother Cole's descendant, Mira Locke.
However, back then, Locke's view of Mira had merely been that becoming a God would be her limit.
The reason Mira achieved her current accomplishments and fused five Earth Laws Profound Mysteries was mainly because the Overgod mission talisman, the Soul-Destroying Pearl, increased her affinity with the Earth Laws. It had little to do with Locke.
Thus, Locke had once considered whether he should accept one or two disciples and teach them from the very beginning, accumulating experience in educating disciples so that he could later use that experience to guide his own children, giving them greater potential.
Now, at this moment, this youth wearing the Blackstone Robe and kneeling before him gave Locke a strange feeling of "fate's arrangement."
"What's your name?"
"My lord, Dunnington! My name is Dunnington!"
Hearing Locke's question, the youth was overjoyed.
This lord asking his name meant there was a very high possibility that this lord had taken an interest in him.
"Dunnington?"
Locke was inwardly surprised.
He remembered that over a thousand calendrical cycles later, the confirmed number of Paragons could be counted on one's fingers, and Dunnington was one of them.
He had not expected Dunnington to appear this early.
And even more unexpectedly, he had encountered him personally.
"Rise, Dunnington."
Locke casually waved his hand.
Instantly, green light emerged from Dunnington's body.
This was a water-style spell, Healing Water.
Although it merely utilized elemental essence, with Locke's comprehension of the Water Laws, under this single Healing Water spell, every injury on Dunnington's body was healed.
The scars on his hands and feet not covered by the Blackstone Robe quickly peeled away, revealing fair skin beneath.
"Th-this… my body…"
Feeling the changes in his body, Dunnington raised his pale hands before his eyes in shock.
Compared to the twisted, burn-scarred hands from before, these hands now looked like those of a young master from a wealthy family, without even the slightest callus.
"Don't make such a fuss. This is merely a healing spell. Once you become stronger in the future, this sort of thing will be something you can casually accomplish."
"Get up and follow behind me."
Locke wasn't deceiving Dunnington with those words.
Before the Deity level, only the water and light elements possessed healing magic capable of restoring injuries.
But after becoming a Deity, a lifeform's body transformed into a "divine body" formed from divine power. Once heavily injured, Deities of every element could use divine power to restore themselves.
"Yes, my lord."
After respectfully kowtowing once more toward Locke, Dunnington stood and followed behind him as they headed outside the town.
Normally, after eating, Locke would disperse his Edicts clone and focus his mind on cultivating with his Sovereign true body within the spatial turbulence.
But now that he had encountered an excellent seedling like Dunnington, Locke naturally could not simply leave like this.
He wanted to use soul vision to observe how a super genius like Dunnington interacted with the world, recording the compatibility between spirituality and the Laws of the world. In the future, using this as a basis to educate his own children would definitely have some reference value.
After leaving the previous town by roughly three kilometers, Locke led Dunnington into the forest.
Once they arrived before a waterfall, Locke halted his steps.
"We'll stay here."
Then, Locke spoke.
"I declare, let there be a residence here!"
As Locke's words fell, Dunnington watched in horror as the earth, trees, and flowing water before him all began transforming under some mysterious force. Visible to the naked eye, they formed into a two-story manor with small bridges, flowing streams, and winding paths before the entrance.
It looked even more elegant and refined than Dunnington's previous home, filled with the primitive aura of nature itself.
The Grand Prophecy technique!
Although Locke's cultivation in the Fate Edicts' Grand Prophecy technique was somewhat inferior to the Chief Sovereign of Fate Orloff's—
And although Locke's Fate Edicts combat abilities manifested more directly through the "Edicts" derived from the Grand Prophecy technique—
In everyday life, the Grand Prophecy technique truly was far more convenient than Locke's "Edicts."
The Grand Prophecy technique was all-encompassing, while "Edicts" were more focused on control and enhancement.
"Dunnington, choose a room for yourself first. Today, rest properly for a day. Starting tomorrow, I'll begin teaching you."
"Yes, my lord."
(End of Chapter)
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