My health recovery is incredibly fast.

When Xia Zuo first saw the Faceless Man's body, his attention was focused on the chaotic container inside the man's head, and he didn't realize how terrible this exhibitionist behavior of undressing himself without warning was.

Seeing this scene again as an observer, Xia Zuo felt only shame.

If Kamashiberion possessed human moral values, she might have simply ruled out the Faceless Man...

Under Xia Zuo's watchful eye, the faceless man was not content with simply being naked... He intended to let Bai Shu understand him more deeply:

The faceless man's energy body erupted with a bright, seven-colored light, and his limbs, head, and torso split into many bright orbs of light in the intense light. When the light dissipated, the humanoid faceless man disappeared, replaced by a luminous prism suspended in mid-air and countless wild elementals without crystal shells swirling around it.

"【Elemental Star Network】Body??" A barrage of question marks flashed through Xia Zuo's mind. "Isn't this the caster's body corresponding to the advanced basic meditation technique? How did it appear here? Could it be that the faceless man we've been secretly observing is the caster's body of some tower mage?"

"Are you puzzled?" Little Golden Thorn asked. "Are you wondering why the Faceless Man can transform into the form of the [Elemental Star Network]?"

"Yes, yes." Xia Zuo nodded repeatedly. "Do you know the answer?"

"As wise observers, we Golden Thorns certainly know the answer. Believe me, if you can understand the relationship between the [Elemental Star Network] body and the wild elements, you will understand the position of humanity in the Path of Saguma. You possess unique qualities that other races and creatures cannot replace."

A small golden jujube flower stands up with one leaf:

"First, let's clarify the first question: which came first, the [Elemental Star Network] body or the wild elements? What do you think?"

Xia Zuo stared at the faceless man's body, his brows furrowed tightly.

"Could it be that the Wild Elements came first? Was the design of the [Elemental Star Network]'s body inspired by the Wild Elements?"

Chapter 26 Spirits and Monsters Born from Consciousness

"Your answer is correct, but I'm afraid you don't know why it's correct. Let me explain it to you."

Little Golden Bauhinia said:

Not all types of life grow in nature.

"There are many strange races that are related to the fantasies, thoughts, will, dreams and other conscious activities of living beings. These races that live on the activity of biological consciousness are collectively called [spirits].

"Wild elements are spiritual spirits among spirits, feeding on the spiritual ocean."

"The Tree of Destiny is a spirit-body spirit among spirits, which lives on the spiritual energy generated by conscious activity. Spirit-body spirits are what we often call spiritual entities."

"The richer a creature's emotions and the sharper its thinking, the more suitable its spiritual world is for the growth of spirits and monsters. Therefore, the most spirits and monsters grow up in the consciousness activities of humans or humanoid creatures."

"The spirits will subtly guide humans to create spirit bodies for them that can move in nature. This could be an alchemical tool, an alchemical body, or a spellcaster's body. When the time is right, they will take control of the spirit body, break away from the human mind, and move alone in nature."

The little golden chaste tree stretches out two leaves, like human hands outstretched when speaking:

I know you might not fully understand what I'm saying, but that's okay, just remember one thing:

"Humans are both the creators of physical objects and the creators of the physical bodies of incorporeal beings."

"You can interpret this sentence as humans creating physical objects and the physical bodies of incorporeal beings, or you can interpret it as the inevitability and objectivity of the existence of physical objects and the physical bodies of incorporeal beings, which guides humans to create them with their own hands and imagination."

"Hey, wait a minute." Xia Zuo waved his hand. "I feel like what you're saying about inevitability and objectivity is even harder to understand than what you said about spirits and monsters before... Let me sort out my thoughts..."

“Oh, okay. It seems you prefer more figurative language, unlike us Golden Vitex flowers who prefer abstract nouns,” the little Golden Vitex flower said, swaying its branches.

Xia Zuo pondered for a few seconds, then snapped his fingers. "Let me give you an example, and you can see if I understand it correctly."

"Okay, no problem."

Xia Zuo took a bright red apple out of his alchemy pouch and placed it on the desk:

"Suppose I suddenly have a brilliant idea and want to turn this apple into a magic-wielding apple sorcerer. I would then use all the knowledge I have acquired and all my connections to find a feasible solution."

"The means used to achieve a goal, such as knowledge, connections, materials, and technology, are objective factors."

"The convergence of these objective factors inevitably leads to a specific result; this is inevitable."

"If the result is successful, and the apple becomes the Apple Wizard, completing the transformation from concept to reality, then it's equivalent to me creating a spirit with an apple as its body, and my sudden inspiration is the influence of some kind of spirit on me, right?"

“Absolutely right!” Little Golden Bauhinia clapped her hands.

"Your understanding is correct, there is no problem."

"Among the eight races of the Saguma Path, the demons, monsters, and monsters only care about their own physical qualities, animals only think about reproduction and survival, and plants and minerals cannot move freely."

"Only humans, while living a comfortable life, unleash their imagination to create all sorts of things. It is for this reason that humans usually play the role of creators of spirit bodies in the Saguma Path. Wild elements are the most common of all spirits, which is related to the evolutionary laws of human civilization itself. Whenever humans think about fire, earth, wind and water, wild elements will appear in nature."

Xia Zuo scratched his head. "So... the wild element lurked in our consciousness, using us humans to create its monstrous body, and then transformed into a monstrous race independent of humans?"

Yes, that's right.

Little Golden Vitex paused:

"If the Creation Crystal buried deep beneath the volcano had not appeared, the current temple would be nominally ruled by human mages, but in reality, wild elementals would be secretly manipulating human thoughts and actions."

"After the creation crystal appeared, it added a shell to the wild elements in nature, turning them into untamed elements, so that the wild elements could no longer affect human consciousness."

"The vast majority of mages are able to create spells, magic circles, and alchemy according to their own ideas. Only a very few high-level mages who are very close to the elements will accidentally penetrate the crystal shell of the elements and come into contact with the wild elements inside."

"When these people are influenced by wild elements, they will have inspiration about the spellcaster's body, and then create related meditation methods and alchemical techniques."

Xia Zuo pondered and asked:

"According to your logic, the bodies of spellcasters like the [Furnace] and [Transforming Metal] are also products of the influence of wild elements on humans?"

"Yes." The little golden thorn flower buds swayed up and down.

"What about the [Elemental Body]? Did the elemental body I created using both inner and outer shells also originate from spirits?"

“That’s true,” Little Golden Vitex nodded again. “It’s also one of the results of wild elements influencing human consciousness.”

"If I were to die unexpectedly one day, wouldn't my elemental body be taken over by wild elements?" Xia Zuo asked.

"It's possible, it's possible. It depends on whether the Temple Light Element in your spiritual ocean can take over your elemental body before the wild elements do.

Little Golden Bauhinia said:

"The Faceless Man's [Elemental Star Network] body came from an alchemist who had not yet possessed the Temple Light Element but had successfully condensed the [Elemental Star Network] body."

Xia Zuo raised an eyebrow and discovered a great secret about the faceless man:

“The Faceless Man once told me that he could help people condense a chaotic vessel, completely control the element of light, and break free from the constraints of the Temple’s laws. Doesn’t that mean replacing all the Temple elements in a person’s spiritual ocean with wild elements? It’s equivalent to handing over one’s entire being to the Faceless Man’s control from the inside out. He talks about freedom and independence, but in reality, he has already completely controlled his subordinates.”

“That’s right,” Little Golden Bauhinia replied. “He hasn’t yet allowed the wild elements to actively interfere with the consciousness of his subordinates. I estimate that he will only reveal his true colors and manipulate all the temple members to serve the wild elements after most of the temple members have replaced their temple elements with wild elements.”

Xia Zuo touched the hair on his head, imagining what a temple completely controlled by wild elements would be like... At that time, humans would likely completely abandon their desires and physiological needs, becoming machines for creating monster bodies for wild elements, working day and night to create various powerful spellcaster bodies for the wild elements to use.

In contrast, this current crumbling temple, overflowing with materialism yet still retaining a remnant of humanity, is more in line with the image of a human civilization.

“Wild Elementals… Temple… Creation Crystal…” Xia Zuo pondered for half a minute, then slowly nodded. “I think I understand why you were so certain that Kamashiberline wouldn’t accept the Faceless Ones…”

"Oh? Tell me your reasons?" Little Golden Bauhinia asked, tilting her head back.

"Kamashiberion cooperates with wild elementals, but its cooperation is limited to wild elementals. Although wild elementals are powerful, the crystal shell of the Genesis Crystal can effectively restrain their movements."

Xia Zuo pondered and said:

"On the other hand, the temple."

"This human organization is indeed inefficient and its people are greedy."

"But if Kamashiberian were to cooperate with it, it would be equivalent to cooperating with a group of creative humans and many spirits who do not yet possess spirit bodies. Potential partners are no longer limited to wild elements."

"In other words, the Temple's potential is far greater than that of the Faceless Ones. As long as Kamashiberlein uses its spacetime power to guide it slightly, the Temple will unleash a large part of its potential."

“Very good~Very good~” Little Golden Bauhinia shook her head in agreement, “Let me add another reason that you don’t know.”

"What reason?" Xia Zuo asked.

"Different spirits are often in an adversarial relationship."

"Huh? Hostile relationship?" Xia Zuo looked at the faceless man who was showing off his various tricks to Bai Shu with slight surprise...

“Yes, hostile relationship,” Little Golden Bauhinia explained.

"Humans cannot think about two things at the same time, and therefore cannot serve two kinds of spirits at the same time."

"Kamashiberian is a mind-body spirit. Humans who cooperate with it must continuously give up their mind energy in order to receive its guidance."

"In this situation, the spirit monsters that also consume human consciousness resources will become enemies with the mind monsters."

"Ah..." Xia Zuo looked at the faceless man again with pity, feeling that the other party was a veritable clown.

The little golden chaste flower made a gesture of spreading its arms out:

"If the Creation Crystal hadn't appeared, the wild elemental races wouldn't have experienced this memory gap. The Faceless Ones wouldn't have lost their basic knowledge about spirits, and they certainly wouldn't be flaunting themselves in front of the White Tree, who is also a spirit. If Kamashiberline hadn't cherished her spacetime power, the Faceless Ones' blatant provocation would surely have been punished..."

The powerful Faceless Man suffered a loss due to his lack of education, becoming a hothead in the eyes of Xia Zuo and Little Golden Thorn Flower.

Xia Zuo chuckled, at a loss for words.

"So it seems I really don't need to do anything," Xia Zuo said with a smile.

“Even if Kamashiberlein doesn’t approve of me, she will definitely seek cooperation with the Temple and contact the old guys in the Holy Mark Department. At that time, the Temple will inevitably undergo a transformation. Perhaps, we can even take the opportunity to thwart the Faceless Man’s vicious plan against the pure-blood mage faction.”

Xia Zuo chuckled mischievously, "If only Kamashiberlein could flatten the Faceless Man on the spot... it would save me the trouble of going after him myself..."

Before he could finish speaking, something changed on Bai Shu's side!

The white orb of light hovering near the white tree suddenly burst forth with intense light, and countless golden-white beams of light shot out from the orb, instantly piercing through the faceless man's [Elemental Star Network] body, turning his body into a bristling hedgehog.

"Holy crap..." Xia Zuo thought his words had become law.

He soon realized he was wrong.

The golden-white beam of light lasted for only about half a second before disappearing without a trace.

The faceless man, pierced by the beam of light, reverted to his original form in reverse and walked backwards step by step back to the vicinity of the armor parts.

The scattered armor pieces flew back onto the faceless man and were pieced together to form a complete metal body armor.

The members of the messenger group, controlled by the [Elemental Invasion], returned to the vicinity of the white tree with stiff steps. The elemental chains binding them were released by an invisible force of spacetime, and the entire group returned to where they came from, walking backwards towards the edge of the thick smoke...

Xia Zuo quickly cast a detection spell on the team.

As expected, all members of the messenger group, including the faceless man, entered a state of [time reversal]. Their [separation of spirit and body] process was regressing, and the countdown was getting longer and longer.

“This…” Xia Zuo was taken aback. “Kamashiberion can manipulate the flow of time through the dimensional rift in the [Land of the Sleeping], and it safely delivered the delegation outside the smoke-filled area. Could it also rescue the exploration team, the temple guards, and the Demon Hunter?”

As if in response to Xia Zuo's question, the white orb near Kamashiberian burst into bright light again, and golden-white beams of light shot out at different angles.

Xia Zuo switched to Rexor's and Rexor's perspectives to take a look.

Two beams of light struck the two demon hunters, forcibly interrupting their separation of spirit and flesh. Their life force appeared out of thin air around them and merged into their bodies, which had transformed into a ball of life force.