The future of the entire Sea Soul Continent remains unpredictable, but at least for now, the Kara behemoths of the Ancient Mil Forest are completely extinct.

As you turned back, you encountered another thirty-eight people on the way.

[Someone, seeing that you didn't seem too exhausted, angrily shouted: "Didn't you agree to protect our home together? Why are you running away?!"]

"Senior Grove, I originally thought you were a trustworthy elder!"

"Even we, the weak, didn't choose to give up..."

[They were still a thousand miles away from the front lines of the famine-stricken land. Even if these extraordinary beings, who were not even at the first level of cultivation, could use low-level spells to ascend into the air and see a thousand miles away, the distance was too great. At most, they could only see that place was covered in a crimson tide.]

As for what battle took place there? They really couldn't see it!

You're just calmly watching the drama unfold.

It's funny to see these people so speechless and unable to defend themselves.

"No, no, no... that's not how it is, let me explain!"

"I won't listen! I won't listen!"

"This is a misunderstanding."

"You're clearly just trying to make excuses!"

But the flames of war soon reached you.

[There was a young, newly awakened sorcerer who, despite his young age, had already honed his transformation skills to a remarkably high level.]

His skin was covered by layers of glossy black carapace, and his face had transformed into something that was half-human and half-insect, possessing some kind of beetle bloodline. Because the change in his body size wasn't particularly drastic, he was still wearing normal human clothes.

He looked utterly disillusioned, then transformed his pain into rage: "Senior Shouyun, I never imagined you, with the power to defeat the Argonians, would turn out to be such a coward!"

With a blank expression, you waved your hand, and a deafening boom resounded, causing the surrounding trees to tremble.

[A mountain of flesh, over thirty meters tall, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Even if it were just falling from a height of a few meters, the impact of its weight of thousands of tons would be incredibly significant!]

The entire venue was instantly muted.

[Boom boom boom...]

Dozens of mountains of flesh crashed down, as if the giant Kara beasts had mastered the art of teleportation, descending from a thousand miles away.

These were all mangled corpses, their flesh torn apart.

You remained expressionless, picked at your ear, and looked at the beetle sorcerer: "What did you say?"

[Beetle Warlock: "..."]

"My hearing isn't working well, could you say it again?"

[The beetle-wielding earth spirit lowered his head; if he weren't currently under the buff of his bloodline, you'd think his face would be flushed red.]

[...]

[Year 4032.]

You didn't add any essences to other people this week because you had important things to do.

Instead, they waited quietly, just waiting...

[True Essence: 9.84 → 9.86]

"Why is it 0.01 times less?"

Yun Shou was puzzled. He remembered that the true nature of the last time was 9.85 times in 4031.

"Returning to one's true nature."

[Going back ten seconds, or more precisely, from "ten seconds later" back to "the present."]

[In ten seconds, the true value will be revealed: 9.86 → 9.88]

[Your aura has risen slightly twice in a row, and in a period earlier, your external essence has also increased by 1% annually, reaching 51.93.]

"The overall value has increased by about 513 times, essentially doubling." You nodded in satisfaction; the feeling of the Holy Body and Divine Power working together in tandem was truly fantastic.

[Your main regret is that this Return to Truth seems to only work on supernatural powers, forming two independent axes.]

In simple terms, the "essential reward and punishment" used in the future of returning to one's true nature does not consume that one opportunity. You tried it once before, in a future segment, truly consuming 1% of your true essence, and then that opportunity was returned to one's true nature.

[Your true essence was indeed consumed once, but you immediately discovered that your "essence reward and punishment" count had not been consumed.]

"Oh, so that's how the 1% was lost."

Returning to your true nature will restore all your life states, including your weakened true essence, but it will not recalculate the time required for the two functions of your essential supernatural powers.

However, the other function of this "Endless Future Body" holy body, "Descent," cannot be used. After returning to the true form, the number of descents used is truly consumed. Unlike the essential rewards and punishments, which can be used once in the future and then used again in reality after returning to the true form, this function cannot be used again in the future.

[This year you completed the "skin, flesh, tendons, bones, and membranes" of the Extreme Martial Arts System, reaching the peak of the Zero Realm.]

Then, you left Rimbaud, bidding farewell to the friends you had briefly made there.

Because Rimbaud is too small and no longer sufficient for you to showcase your prowess, you've decided to change maps.

[On the way back, I also had Xu Daolin give some of them small perks, enough to make them rise to the top overnight, but enough to save them decades of hard work.]

[You didn't enhance their essence. For geniuses and top-tier experts, even 1% of their essence is priceless, but for ordinary people, they would rather have a thousand pieces of gold.]

For example, when you were a fisherman, would you rather become a top-tier martial artist than accept a mere 14% of your potential?

"Those were the days, now is the present."

Even after you left Rimbaud, the legend continued to circulate in the city.

[You killed over a hundred Land Kings in a single battle, defeated a warlock whose bloodline had gone out of control, and dismantled the nascent Flood of Food. A mysterious master who briefly arrived and then departed... your fame spread far and wide—the valiant Guardian of Clouds!]

However, what truly made you famous wasn't the series of flashy achievements mentioned above, but rather the spatial ring you used at the end.

"Legendary spatial equipment, only the greatest star wizards are qualified to possess it!"

"Can you imagine? With just a wave of that person's hand, 'Boom!' a corpse weighing over a thousand tons crashed down, and with another wave, the enormous Kara beast, bigger than dozens of houses, was retracted!"

"I'm sure even Earl Kentucky doesn't have that kind of magical thing!"

"His background is beyond imagination. Judging from his appearance and ethnicity, he must be from the 'Azure Domain' beyond the Sea Soul!"

"..."

[As an aside, less than half a month after you resolved the food crisis, a True Self Sorcerer of the Third Realm traveled a long way to kill you and steal your spatial ring.]

[You don't want to deal with an opponent with such high stats, so let Xu Daolin take care of him.]

As for his arrival? He's not worthy of you revealing a trump card of that level.