Path of Absolute Transcendence

Two months passed after Kai immersed himself in studying the formation.

'Ah! I finally understood the entire formation, and I don't think I can create a formation like this one.'

Kai finally figured out the reason why the king was able to manipulate the entire sand tribe.

Its answer lies in the formation core. The king is the first sand spirit to appear, which makes him the founder of the sand tribe.

He is an innate being that mutated due to the existence of treasure. The other sand spirits are his descendants.

He can control them using his bloodline since his bloodline is currently running through their veins.

The king placed his bloodline source on the formation eye, which acts as a trigger for controlling them.

'He must have thought about doing this even before the formation of the tribe.'

Kai knew that once civilization took place, the king wouldn't be able to make modifications to his bloodline since, with the increase in population, the king's bloodline concentration in their bodies would decrease.

So, the king did everything before even civilization took place, and he made it perfect that his bloodline would remain in their bodies no matter how long passed.

'Just how old is the king and how strong is he now?'

Kai became cautious and altered after finding out about his plan. The king who planned for so long easily wouldn't let someone ruin his plan. Given how long he lived, his strength may have reached the absolute peak of his realm.

Kai knew he had to face the king at one point; the king would immediately know if he stole the fragment.

'It seems Mud is going to be the lab rat this time.'

After learning about the entire plan, Kai knew the king wouldn't let any variables appear in his plan. Kai wanted to test the patience of the king in this matter.

The chances of Mud surviving are very low in this matter, but Kai doesn't care about him.

'The important problem is that I can't avoid direct confrontation with the king, no matter how much I plan.'

Even if he perfectly executed the plan, Kai wouldn't be able to escape from King. Before he could even leave the sand kingdom, the king would easily find him.

'Ahh! I didn't want to ask for help, but if I had no choice, I could do it at the last minute.'

KING'S POV

Inside the palace, a simple, middle-aged man was meditating in the Lotus position. His breathing was even, his brows were sword-like, and his facial features were very human-like.

That middle-aged man was the King, called Sebastian. The iron-blooded ruler of the sand kingdom is a ruthless guy who will do anything for his benefit.

His current appearance is contradictory to Kai's thoughts. He has a calm and confident aura around him like he is still in control of everything.

He suddenly opened his eyes and smirked as he looked in a certain direction.

"So, you are hiding there, rat. I thought you would leave the kingdom entirely to avoid my eyes, but it seems you got some guts," Sabastian sneered while looking at Kai.

He directly ignored the space and distance between them and saw through Kai's hideout.

"Should I kill him now, right now? No, I feel like I wouldn't be able to kill him right now, so I should keep an eye on him all the time to see what he is up to."

Sebastian is a peak-grade Tier 4 cultivator; no, it should be appropriate to call him a half-step Tier 5 cultivator. He was a bottleneck for a long time due to his talent limitations.

The intuition of such high-level cultivators wasn't based on whim; most of them were related to their luck and fate, so they wouldn't ignore such an obvious warning.

The reason Kai was able to live till now is also because of his intuition, which helped promptly. He would have died at the hands of Anna if he hadn't escaped that situation.

"Maybe he will help me find out the flaws in my plan."

Kai didn't know that he had been found by the king and was still thinking that everything was going according to his plan.

The only advantage he has now is that his astral body wasn't found until now.

Kai's POV

*ACHOO*

"Why do I feel something spying on me?" Kai muttered while rubbing his nose.

"Did the king already find me?" He muttered jokingly, not knowing that he had already been found.

'Now, the only way for me to steal the fragment and treasure is to use the formation to my advantage.'

Since the formation is similar to a program, it is entirely possible to hack it. Kai needs to change the formation in such a way that he can face the King if anything goes wrong.

He knew the king might be plotting something or may have some backup plan, so he didn't want to complete the capital without any backup for him.

While Kai was thinking, the black crown above his head started to shine.

'Why do I suddenly feel cold? I also have a bad feeling about this.'

'Whatever, I need to closely observe Mud from now on to see the king's reaction. It's already been two months, and it's time to see the results.'

Kai contacted Mud using his astral body and met him alone.

"How is the process of gathering people going?" Kai asked Mud after he saw him.

"Sir, everything was going well; more than ten thousand people joined our group. If you hadn't ordered me to hide the existence of the group, it would be much larger than this."

"No, it should be enough. You and your group need to gather in front of the palace gate and start the revolt."

"Yes, sir, we will do it in two days since gathering everyone will take some time."

"Okay, only two days. I don't have time to waste on this."

Kai left the place after being advised. He pretty much knew that this idea wasn't going to work after learning about the king's plan.

How would the king consider the lives of ten thousand people when he didn't care about more than a million?

Even if Kai gathered everyone in the kingdom to form a revolt, the king would just sacrifice them to avoid trouble.

After two days, Mud did everything he told him to do and gathered his group.

He was now standing before the palace gate at the lead, indicating that he was the leader, and behind him were more than ten thousand spirits.

Kai didn't join the group; he just sat in the corner and watched the drama unfold before him.

"Why are you gathered like this before the royal palace? If it disrespects the king, all of you will get severely punished." The guard at the entrance asked them.

"We aren't here to create trouble. We are here for justice; we need our freedom." Mud stated.

"Yeah, we are here for freedom." "Yeah, we are here for freedom." "Yeah, we are here for freedom."

The entire crowd started repeating him, and the guard wasn't able to do anything.

"Hey, all of you guys need to shut up. If your protests were known to the king, you would be personally executed." The guard increased his aura and tried threatening them.

But that didn't work; under the teaching of Mud, they came fearless.

They didn't think that the king would massacre every single person who participated in this protest. It was correct if the king was a normal man.

The king must always maintain his prestige and face among his citizens, but that is only applicable to a normal person with a sane mind. They didn't know that this method wouldn't work on Sebastian.

"What with the noise? Why are you all gathered in front of the palace?" Lord Clay arrived and asked everyone.

"Lord Clay, we are here to ask for justice; we need our freedom." Mud took the lead again and answered the question.

"So, you want to rebel against the king's order? Do you have such audacity, or did you forget who you are talking to?"

"Sir, I'm only telling the truth. We aren't afraid of anyone; we need to meet the King and ask him personally."

Seeing that they didn't show any respect and directly ignored him, Lord Clay became furious.

He immediately released his pressure on them. An overwhelming aura pressed everyone down to their knees, and no one was able to stand after that.

He didn't open his domain since they would just die if he stayed for two or three seconds.

"Sir, no matter how much you pressure us, we won't back down from our request; we want to meet the king."

"Yeah, we want to meet the king; we need justice." Everybody echoed him and also expressed their opinion.

Mud already told them that this type of situation may happen to them and reassured them that no one would be killed in the process. So, they fearlessly participated in the revolt and raised their opinion.

'Well, he prepared very well for the situation and even taught his members.' Kai silently praised Mud for his diligence.

'But the real problem has yet to come; it will be fun to watch how he handles such an unexpected situation' Kai smirked playfully; his carefree attitude already showed that he didn't care about their lives.

"So, you wanted to meet me? Now that I have come to meet everyone, let's discuss your gathering." The king suddenly appeared before everyone and told them this before forming a throne in the air and sitting on it.