Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2279 A similar situation?

”...The Dominator Realm is a scam?” Glatheon revealed an ugly smile, one that made him look as though he were on the verge of fainting from sheer disbelief.

The fact that he was a Law Dominator was the single greatest source of pride in his entire life.

It was what had secured the safety of his empire and granted him the peace of mind necessary to rule without constantly fearing annihilation from stronger forces.

It was what had earned him respect, influence, prestige, and prosperity for his bloodline across countless generations.

It was proof of his talent, proof of his hard work, proof that the endless years he had spent cultivating, fighting, scheming, and surviving had not been wasted.

It represented his past, his present, and everything he imagined for his future.

It was the foundation upon which he had built his identity.

To him, it was practically everything.

”Think about it, Glatheon.” Robin rubbed his forehead as though he were struggling to understand why nobody else found the situation absurd. ”The more diligent of a student you are, and the more of your life you sacrifice studying a Heavenly Law, the more that law supposedly takes pity on you and opens a tiny portion of the cosmic seal restricting you? As some sort of reward? An incentive? A motivational system? It might be nothing more than a trivial Secondary Heavenly Law, insignificant in the grand scheme of things, yet youʼll find people spending millions of years desperately trying to earn its favor just to increase their own strength by another ten percent. Entire civilizations devote themselves to this process. Empires are built around it. Sects worship it. Generations dedicate their lives to it. What kind of absurd system is that?”

”...” Glatheon felt as though he might cry.

After all, he himself was a Guardian of a Secondary Law.

Not only that, but he had spent an enormous portion of his life pursuing precisely the path Robin was describing.

”Secondly, the entire idea that Heavenly Laws possess consciousness and personal preferences simply doesnʼt fit inside my head.” Robin shook his head with visible dissatisfaction.

”No, no, youʼre attacking fundamental truths now, Lord Robin.” Glatheon responded immediately, almost instinctively defending concepts he had believed for hundreds of thousands of years. ”There are countless examples throughout history of laws favoring specific Guardians and Monarchs. Entire records and historical accounts have been written about such phenomena. The most famous example is Antiras, and a closer example would be Helen Distra, whom many believe was personally protected by the Incineration Law itself!”

”In my opinion, thatʼs part of the scam.” Robin tilted his head slightly. ”A scheme designed to make the Heavenly Laws around you appear more important than they really are, greater than they actually are, until they become everyoneʼs goal, destination, and final aspiration. Once that happens, nobody spends time thinking about anything beyond them. Nobody questions the structure. Nobody asks why things work the way they do. Everyone becomes busy chasing the approval of laws that may not even deserve the attention theyʼre receiving. And if events like those arenʼt merely coincidences, then theyʼre probably the result of individual talent, or because the Rulemaker intentionally left loopholes throughout the system to encourage people to play his game—a game entirely centered around Heavenly Laws and their worship.”

Then an expression of genuine disgust appeared on his face.

”The Heavenly Laws around you, the laws that exist within the boundaries of this universe and operate beneath the framework established by higher powers, are far too insignificant to possess awareness, make choices, develop preferences, hold grudges, or decide who deserves favor and who doesnʼt.”

”....?” Glatheon lowered his gaze.

Once again, he had not even spent a single hour beside Robin.

And once again, he was hearing things that threatened to rebuild everything he had ever believed from the ground up.

Every few minutes another pillar of common knowledge seemed to collapse.

Every answer produced a larger question.

Every explanation somehow made the universe feel stranger.

”Could you focus on me for a moment?!” Althera raised her voice, her patience finally reaching its limit. ”What exactly happened to me?!”

Every word exchanged between Robin and Glatheon felt like fuel being thrown onto a fire from her perspective.

She had been silently burning with frustration while watching them discuss the nature of Heavenly Laws, the structure of cultivation, cosmic conspiracies, and universal restrictions while almost completely ignoring the problem that had started this entire conversation.

Her problem.

The fact that her cultivation had disappeared.

The fact that her Soul Domain had changed.

The fact that she no longer understood what she had become.

”....” Robin looked directly into Altheraʼs eyes. ”It doesnʼt take a genius to realize that the five Sovereign Symbols were responsible for removing every restriction the universe had placed upon you. The limits governing your use of laws, the invisible suppression imposed upon your body, the pressure exerted upon you by all the other laws surrounding you, and perhaps even restrictions we still havenʼt identified—all of that disappeared because those five Sovereign Symbols appeared. And by the way, those restrictions are still gone. If you reach the Connection State again, youʼll undoubtedly become one of the strongest individuals in the universe. That part hasnʼt changed, regardless of everything else.”

Then he continued while interlocking his fingers over his stomach.

”And Iʼm specifically saying five because the symbols appeared one after another rather than all at once. According to Glatheonʼs confident testimony, your transformation occurred precisely when the fifth appeared, before the sixth became visible. If thatʼs true, then the distinction matters. It means the sixth symbol may have been responsible for something else entirely. Perhaps the fifth removed the restrictions while the sixth initiated the golden sphere. Perhaps they served different functions. Perhaps the order itself is important.”

”....?” Althera opened her mouth slightly as a new thought struck her.

”Was the price for that... the disappearance of my internal energy and the loss of my understanding of the Fundamental Repetition Law?”

”Apparently not.” Robin tilted his head slightly while considering the timeline. ”You said you felt tremendous power. Not potential power. Not future power. Actual power. That means the removal of the restrictions governing your use of laws had already succeeded while you still possessed your original strength. Glatheon also said he felt that power personally and witnessed its effects with his own eyes. His testimony serves as evidence that the removal of those restrictions did not cost you your strength.”

Robin paused briefly before continuing.

”If your strength disappeared only afterward, then the disappearance and the removal of restrictions were likely two separate events. In other words, the thing that freed you and the thing that stripped away your cultivation may not be the same phenomenon at all.”

”....” Althera and Glatheon nodded slowly, both following Robinʼs train of thought as it gradually moved away from speculation and closer toward something resembling a coherent explanation.

Then Robin continued, ”This is evidence that the incident involving the threads and the removal of the restrictions occurred and concluded the very moment Althera opened her eyes. If that phenomenon had been responsible for something as severe as destroying her Energy Gathering Center, erasing her accumulated cultivation, and removing her understanding of the Fundamental Repetition Law, it wouldnʼt have granted Althera that tremendous power first and only afterward begun taking things away from her. It wouldnʼt make sense from any perspective. A process that frees someone from restrictions shouldnʼt simultaneously wait until afterward to collect a price of that magnitude. That contradicts the fundamental principle of fair exchange and also contradicts the sequence of events we actually witnessed.”

”Are you saying that removing one hundred percent of the restrictions imposed by all the Heavenly Laws has absolutely nothing to do with what happened to my Energy Gathering Center?!” Althera asked in extreme disbelief, almost unable to accept that two such overwhelming events could be unrelated.

”No. That incident occurred and ended the moment you opened your eyes. It was a fascinating event that deserves much more study and investigation because it could be extremely useful to us in the future.” Robin tilted his head slightly before his brows slowly furrowed. ”But thereʼs something else thatʼs troubling me far more than your Energy Gathering Center right now...”

”What is it, Lord Robin?” Glatheon asked immediately, noticing the change in Robinʼs expression.

”...In truth, I possess a Soul Domain thatʼs almost identical to Altheraʼs current one.” Robin spoke more slowly now, carefully observing the countless fibers still weaving themselves into the walls of Altheraʼs Soul Domain. ”For a very long time, I believed those intertwined fibers inside the walls of my Soul Domain were simply part of its natural structure. Later, after discovering the Elastic Domain trait and learning more about unusual spiritual phenomena, I assumed they were related to that trait. But now Iʼm watching those exact fibers form inside the walls of Altheraʼs Soul Domain in real time. Iʼm seeing the process itself unfold before my eyes. I can see their living colors gradually fading away one after another, and I can watch them silently merge into the walls as though they were always meant to become part of the structure.”

Robinʼs brows tightened.

”...In the past, I was nearly overjoyed when I learned that I possessed a unique spiritual trait that I had supposedly been born with. I was happy because it was the only thing I didnʼt have to work endlessly for. The only thing. Everything else in my life had been earned through suffering, risk, stubbornness, and endless effort. It was the only advantage that seemed to have fallen into my hands naturally, and for the first time I felt that luck might finally be on my side...” He paused briefly before continuing in a quieter voice. ”But what Iʼm seeing now is perhaps the greatest proof that none of that was true. At some point in the past, I went through exactly what Althera is experiencing now.”

Then he lowered his gaze.

”...But when?”

Robin stood and began slowly walking toward the cliff with his hands folded behind his back, his footsteps measured and absentminded as his attention became increasingly consumed by memories.

”When were the restrictions on my laws removed? How did it help me?... And how did I fail to notice something this significant happening to me? How did I spend all these years misunderstanding the origin of one of the most important characteristics of my Soul Domain?”

His brows furrowed deeply.

”If something like this happened to me, I would undoubtedly remember it. Anyone would remember it. The removal of universal restrictions, the restructuring of a Soul Domain, the transformation of oneʼs spiritual foundation... those arenʼt small events. Theyʼre the kind of experiences that should remain engraved in memory forever.” He paused briefly. ”Was I simply a child too young and too ignorant to understand what was happening? But why would blessings of this magnitude descend upon a child for no reason? And me of all people? The one with the worst luck among everyone? The same child who spent most of his life being crushed by circumstances?”

Then his eyebrows slowly rose.

A look of shock began forming on his face as pieces that had remained disconnected for years suddenly began fitting together.

”That day...”

His footsteps gradually slowed.

”That day matches every condition...”

The more he thought about it, the less he could dismiss the possibility.

”Young. Ignorant. Unable to understand what was happening around me. The day the course of my life completely changed. A sphere of golden energy lifting me off the ground. Returning to zero. Rebuilding my body. Losing everything I had and starting over...”

The memories continued surfacing one after another.

Every detail seemed to align.

Every clue pointed toward the same answer.

Then he suddenly raised his voice in realization, the final connection locking into place inside his mind.

”That day when I met the All-seeing god for the very first time?!”