Apotheosis

"I never heard about it before," Zen replied.

This made the woman even more curious. She asked, "Aren't you from the Source World?"

"No, I'm not," Zen retorted.

They couldn't see each other in the Sea of Truth. Zen had no reason to hide his identity from the woman since it'd be impossible for her to discover his origin.

"Let me guess. You're from the Green Sky Land? The Ghost Hunting race? No, that couldn't be. They are much taller than you," the woman continued to speculate.

Zen never intended to reveal his background. He had something else in mind.

These people were notorious for robbing others' soul pills on the Sea of Truth. Zen intended to follow their footsteps.

However, he couldn't do it alone.

If he wanted to enter the Sea of Truth with his body, his soul would have to leave the sea first.

The soul pills he robbed using his physical body wouldn't work on his soul.

He could work with the woman.

Upon realizing this, he couldn't get it off his mind. He gazed into the distance where fifteen boats sped off and turned into small black dots floating on the horizon.

The woman was still trying to figure out Zen's origin when he said, "Let's go after those people."

"But why? You want them to rob you again?" the woman asked in confusion.

"No. I'm going to find a way to return your soul pills," Zen replied.

"Return my soul pills? That'll be unnecessary," she said with a slight smile. Given her status, a few lost soul pills didn't matter much.

Zen continued, "Not just that. I'll get more soul pills but only if you help me. What do you say?"

This left the woman confused once more.

Not only was Zen from outside the Source World, but he was also poor. How would he be able to get the soul pills? Did he plan to rob them? By himself?

"Enlighten me. How do you plan on getting those soul pills?"

hesitation, he fell into the sea of fire.

Once the Souls of Light stepped into the Sea of Truth, they felt a bitter cold. Zen, however, felt burning heat reminiscent of summer.

"Last time I crossed the first section, I have to swim downstream if I want to catch up with those guys."

Splash!

Zen spread out his arms before gracefully diving into the water and then jumping out of its surface, disguising himself as a nimble fish from a distance. His speed was so astonishing that he managed to cross the first line within just a few seconds.

"Look! A fish from the other side of the first line is swimming towards us!"

"Impossible. The two sides of the first line were two completely different worlds."

"I don't think that's a fish. I think that's...a person."

"What? How?"

A fish moving at that speed was more believable than a person.

The first line was an insurmountable bottleneck for almost all the consummate True Gods. They had never heard of someone going back after crossing it with great effort.

What was more shocking was that this person didn't sail a Truth Boat but swam in the sea, completely beyond reason for those on board. Those who wandered by the first line watched Zen leave with mouths agape.