Path of Absolute Transcendence

Kai watched Mud until he mixed with the crowd.

'His actions seem normal; I should observe him a bit more before studying the formation.'

Kai continued to check on Mud to confirm his behavior didn't arouse anyone's suspicion.

"Hey, I don't like this at all. They treat us like some kind of prisoner; we have no respect at all."

"Yeah, I don't like being here either. The cost of living here is way too high for me to afford."

Like this, some sand spirits were expressing their dissatisfaction about the situation.

"Maybe we should do something about this." Mud suddenly entered the scene and spoke casually.

"What are we gonna do? They won't hear our complaints." A middle-aged sand spirit replied to Mud.

"They won't hear our words if we just say them without any convection. But if we united every person and talked with the king personally, we could change his mind."

"Did you think it was easy to meet the king in this situation?"

"No, it won't be easy. I mean, we should gather everyone in the entire capital and talk to the king. It will be effective, and the king also won't be able to ignore us."

"That's just a stupid dream. Nobody would join you; we are indirectly opposing the king if we do that, and a lot of people don't even have that guts."

"I know that's why I need some volunteers; I will take full responsibility if something happens. You guys only need to support us through this ordeal; we can get our freedom afterward."

"No, I'm not joining this suicide mission."

"No, I'm not joining this suicide mission."

"No, I'm not joining this suicide mission."

Three of the sand spirits from the group immediately rejected Mud's offer without even thinking a bit.

"I will support you; the situation won't change if someone doesn't take the first step." The middle-aged spirit, who first replied to Mud, decided to join the group.

"Thank you, sir; I knew you would be wiser considering your age, not like some cowardly bastards." Mud said those words to those who rejected his offer.

"Hey, don't care about these spineless guys. We don't have to waste time and energy on them." The middle-aged sand spirit also provoked them.

"Hey, why do you think you are going to call us cowards? We will join this mission and prove our courage."

The four of them immediately became angry in embarrassed and decided to join.

"Thank you for your participation, and I hope you won't back down on your words."

"I won't back down. I'm a man of words."

Seeing this plan succeed, Mud left the group happily to recruit others.

Kai watched everything unfold from a distance.

'It seems provoking a person is a good way to lure them.'

Kai knew both Mud and the middle-aged sand spirit purposefully provoked the remaining ones to join their group.

They weren't able to reject it, since rejecting it again would damage their useless reputation.

But that cannot be the only reason; another reason they joined was because there was already a member in the group. It is a simple psychology that everyone follows.

Most people would hesitate to take that first step, but once someone takes the first step, everyone will follow their path.

'But such people won't achieve much in life.' Kai thought after they changed their attitude.

To become a winner in life or to be remembered in life, a person must let go of their hesitation and move forward in their life without considering other opinions.

'Now, I can study the formation without any problems.'

Kai left the crowd and went to the palace. He knew Mud would do the job perfectly after seeing his first performance.

He did his guard duty at night and decided to study the formation tomorrow.

"Sir, I'm here to visit Dayan for a personal reason," Mud asked the guard.

"Do you know Dayan personally? If that is not the case, I would recommend you leave." The guard said it sternly.

"Yes, sir, I know Sir Dayan very well; he is the one who asked me to meet him."

The guard informed Kai about Mud.

'Why did he come to visit me suddenly? It is only one day.'

Kai was planning to study the formation seriously, but luck was not on his side since Mud arrived and disturbed him.

Kai decided to meet Mud since he was an important part of his plan.

"Did something go wrong with the plan?"

"No, sir, but I don't think it is easy to gather all the people in a short period."

"You only worked for a day, and how did you come to this conclusion?"

"Sir, after recruiting the first group of people, we went to gather others, but the results were as good as we expected."

"Just tell me what happened."

"Most of the people weren't even willing to listen to the explanation; they just started walking away after hearing about resisting the king's order."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"Sir, I want some extra members in the group and need your help with it."

"So, you want me to manipulate them and make them help you?"

"Yes, sir, we can gather a lot of people easily if we have more people."

'I think lifting some restrictions was a bad choice, but anyway, it is a good thing I came to know before it was too late.'

Kai lifted some restrictions on Mud yesterday before leaving the palace. He saw Mud has the potential to convince people, so grant him a little free will, but he didn't think he would come for help on the very next day.

"Okay, I will help. But I will select them randomly, and only up to thirty."

"Thirty is more than enough, sir. I can complete the job before the deadline given by you."

"Okay, let's do it now. I have work, so I won't be able to meet you after that for a long time."

Kai and Mud left the palace together. They went to a less crowded place, and Kai approached them the same way he did with Mud.

After a full day of work, Kai manipulated thirty sand spirits. It wasn't that he didn't want to manipulate more of them, but he wasn't capable of that.

Kai's limit was already thirty, but he controlled thirty-one sand spirits, including Mud. It was already hard for him to maintain such a heavy load, and any more than that would break this spirit.

'Phew! It was a hard day. I think I need to rest another day.'

Kai left Mud to do his job and rested in the palace. He didn't even go to guard the treasury; he slept like a log without minding the surroundings.

Lord Clay didn't ask him anything since he knew it was the first day that Kai skipped his duty.

That day, he guarded the Treasury; it was an insult considering his status, but he did that anyway.

'Oh sh**! I slept and forgot my job.' Kai woke up and cursed himself for being careless.

He left to meet Lord Clay to explain the purpose.

"Why are you running early in the morning?"

Lord Clay suddenly appeared and asked.

"Lord Clay, I just forgot to do my duty due to exhaustion. Please forgive me; I will do that today on both shifts." Kai immediately apologized.

"Don't worry about that; just be more restrained from now on. Although it is good to be young and frivolous, you will regret it in the future if you continue it."

Lord Clay misunderstood Kai, so he advised him and left him after this advice.

'Did he have to think like that? Am I that kind of person? Even if I were, I wouldn't do that with this sand.' Kai freaked out just thinking about it.

'I should concentrate on my work for now.'

Kai did the work the entire day like he told Lord Clay, and he didn't just do the work; he studied the formation at the same time.

Kai still didn't figure out how the formation controlled the entire kingdom.

He knew the Tier 4 formation wasn't capable of achieving that since the entire sand tribe was under control. Its range only covered the capital, and the sand kingdom shouldn't have the resources to cover the entire kingdom with the formation.

As this month passed, Kai continued to do his work and studied the formation without any disturbance. Mud didn't come to visit him during this period.

Kai finally found something interesting about the formation.

'There is no formation added for controlling people in this.' Kai concluded after researching and checking his results more than ten times.

He didn't find any extra formation in it. It only has sacrificial and extraction formations on it, with the addition of some auxiliary formations.

There is a deception formation to deceive people, a hidden formation to hide it, and finally a protection formation to protect it.

'How did the king control these people without the help of this formation?' he thought curiously.

Kai knows that sand spirits' thought processes are controlled. He even checked them when he helped Mud by controlling them.

When he sent his Will Power inside them, he felt a subtle energy resist his power, but he destroyed them.

Kai knows that energy is from a Tier 4 entity; it is not known whether it was a cultivator or a formation. Since it was without any source, Kai was easily able to destroy it.