"Master, Shiniang, Lian'er has a question I've never been able to understand."
Qianye Immortal King walked over and patted Lian'er's head, asking affectionately, "What is it?"
"Those Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands, and those Great Desolate Magnates, surely they understand that any Fortune appearing on a person with Original Sin is not only a waste but also a great burden?"
"Silly girl, whether it's the Grotto Heavens, Blessed Lands, or the Great Desolate Magnates, they are all ancient legacies with countless powerful experts. Even a little girl like you knows this, how could they not?"
"Exactly."
Lian'er asked, puzzled, "Since they know, why do the people with Original Sin they cultivate still carry so many Fortunes?"
"Lian'er, you've only met a few people with Original Sin. How can you be sure all of them carry other Fortunes?"
"Although Lian'er hasn't seen many people with Original Sin, I've met quite a few, and they all had other Fortunes. Some had one or two, others had three or four."
"Lian'er, first you must understand a principle: the Fortune on a person with Original Sin is not something one can simply discard if they wish. Not just for people with Original Sin, but for all of us, our Fortunes are the same. If you force them away, you'll be lucky to escape with your life stripped bare; sometimes, it's even a mortal danger."
Changfeng Great Emperor explained softly to Lian'er, then said, "Of course, this isn't the key issue. As for you saying that the people with Original Sin cultivated by those Great Desolate Magnates all carry many Fortunes, that is indeed true. Moreover, your master can tell you that these Fortunes were fused into them with the help of those Great Desolate Magnates."
"What?"
Lian'er was utterly baffled. "Didn't they say the Great Desolate Magnates cultivate people with Original Sin to seize the initiative? They clearly know that carrying other Fortunes would be a burden for a person with Original Sin. Why would they still help them fuse those Fortunes?"
Hearing Lian'er raise this question, Changfeng Great Emperor shook his head slightly, sighed, remained silent for a long while, and then spoke, "Cultivating a person with Original Sin is nowhere near that easy. Nurturing one is far, far more complex than you imagine. After all, Original Sin is Original Sin; even as a Fortune, it is the most mysterious Fortune between heaven and earth."
"Other Fortunes mostly have historical records. Even if they don't, the ancestral patriarchs of those Great Desolate Magnates can slowly contemplate and comprehend them. But Original Sin is different. You can't force it out just by piling on resources, and there are no historical records whatsoever. No one truly understands how to cultivate a person with Original Sin. I'm afraid not even the Dao Ancestors who survived from the Desolate Ancient Era know."
Just as he was speaking, Qianye Immortal King beside him interrupted, "Lian'er is still young. You're explaining it so complexly, she won't understand."
After saying this, Qianye Immortal King took Lian'er's small hand and said, "Lian'er, let me ask you: if you worked hard to obtain a treasure and wanted to refine it into the most dazzling flying sword in the world, but during the refining process, you discovered this treasure's potential was limited and it simply couldn't become the most beautiful flying sword, what would you do?"
"This... Since it can't be refined into the flying sword I want, there's nothing to be done. If I throw it away, it'd be a pity—after all, I worked hard for it. I think... if it were me, I'd definitely settle for the next best thing, refine it into some other magical artifact, and then continue searching for other treasures, striving to refine the flying sword I truly want."
"Exactly."
Qianye Immortal King nodded. "The reason you see many people with Original Sin carrying Fortunes is precisely this logic. To the Great Desolate Magnates, they are like hard-earned treasures. The magnates all want to nurture them into True Bodies of Original Sin, thereby becoming True Lords of Original Sin. Unfortunately, people with Original Sin aren't that easy to cultivate. Most of the ones they nurture stop at the Incarnation of Original Sin, with likely no possibility of further advancement in the future."
"Behind every person with Original Sin lies the painstaking effort and heart's blood of many ancestral patriarchs of those Great Desolate Magnates. Asking them to give up would be too hard. Since there's no possibility of advancement, they can only settle for the next best thing, as you said, and have those people with Original Sin fuse with other Fortunes. This way, the effort they invested in them won't have been in vain."
"So that's how it is."
Lian'er suddenly understood. "No wonder I saw so many people with Original Sin carrying other Fortunes."
Changfeng Great Emperor cautioned, "Lian'er, these matters are things your master and your shiniang shouldn't have told you. Since you asked, we told you. However, you must never mention this to anyone else."
Lian'er nodded very sensibly. "Master, Shiniang, don't worry. Lian'er knows what's appropriate."
As a couple from the Nine Heavens Immortal Palace, Changfeng Great Emperor clearly understood that the Thirty-Six Grotto Heavens, Seventy-Two Blessed Lands, even the Great Desolate Magnates, and including the various great Immortal Palaces above the Nine Heavens, were all cultivating people with Original Sin. It's just that most of the people with Original Sin they cultivated had stopped at the Incarnation of Original Sin, unable to advance a single step further. Therefore, they all chose to settle for the next best thing, helping the people with Original Sin they nurtured to fuse with Fortunes. Firstly, they didn't want their invested effort to go to waste. Secondly, as long as one was a person with Original Sin, they would have the qualification to contend for the initiative in the future. Under the circumstance that the person with Original Sin couldn't advance further, they tried their best to help them fuse with powerful Fortunes to strengthen their power.
Moreover, they also knew that the Great Desolate Magnates, Grotto Heavens, and Blessed Lands weren't cultivating just one person with Original Sin, but many. For example, the Purple Cloud Immortal Realm had cultivated nearly a hundred Acquired people with Original Sin, and more than ten Innate people with Original Sin.
Leaving aside Acquired people with Original Sin—being able to gestate a Body of Original Sin was already remarkable, and gestating an Incarnation of Original Sin was even more difficult.
As for Innate people with Original Sin, most, like Tian Kui, stopped at the Incarnation of Original Sin, but not all. Some achieved the Retribution Body of Original Sin. As for the deeper-level Response Body of Original Sin, whether it existed or not was unknown.
The situations of other Great Desolate Magnates were mostly similar to that of the Purple Cloud Immortal Realm. And the Thirty-Six Grotto Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands not only cultivated more people with Original Sin than the Great Desolate Magnates, but also had quite a few at deeper levels.
At the very least.
Changfeng Great Emperor knew that some Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands had already cultivated Retribution Bodies of Original Sin and even Response Bodies of Original Sin. He had even heard that some had cultivated Dharma Bodies of Original Sin.
This matter was rumored quite fantastically above the Nine Heavens. Whether it was true or not, Changfeng Great Emperor hadn't gone to verify.
To be honest.
He had no interest in Original Sin whatsoever and hadn't cultivated any people with Original Sin like other Great Emperors. The disciple he accepted, Lian'er, was not a person with Original Sin, but a very ordinary little rabbit demon.
However.
Having said that, even though he had no interest in Original Sin—one could even say he felt some aversion towards it—as a Great Emperor of the Immortal Dao who bore the Mandate of Heaven and lived in such an extremely chaotic Present-Ancient Era, even if he didn't want to, he couldn't avoid facing the impending storm of Original Sin.