“Although you’ve recovered, it doesn’t feel complete,” Philip said softly as he looked at the Black King before him.
His expression was still calm. Even when facing a legendary King, nothing had changed from beginning to end. The Black King looked at Philip in surprise. Of course, he wasn’t surprised by Philip’s behavior, but for other reasons.
“Your true spirit…” The Black King looked at Philip, standing there with an indifferent expression. He couldn’t help but frown as if he felt something was wrong, “There seems to be something wrong. It’s too pure.” He looked at Philip and felt that something was wrong.
Philip’s true spirit was too pure in the eyes of the Black King. A true spirit was the product of the sublimation of one’s origin. It represented the sum of one’s origin and everything else. No matter how strong a person was, their true spirit would become more substantial. However, some things still existed, for example, obsession, emotions, and so on. Yet, these things could not be seen on Philip’s body.
Above his true soul, a pure white, flawless scene appeared, looking extremely clean that people could not help but be amazed at a glance. The various obsessions and emotional reactions that normal creatures had seemed to leave no trace on his true soul. It was so clean that it was strange. Even the Black King before him could not help but feel shocked when he saw Philip’s state. “You’ve come into contact with the initial gate?” The Black King frowned as he spoke after pondering for a moment.
Philip glanced at the Black King and nodded. Philip was not surprised that the Black King knew about the existence of the initial gate. In this world, the King’s power was only a standard for those who could reach the King’s level. And where did the King’s power come from?
Other than the power of own sublimation, there was only the initial power in the initial gate. If one wanted to become a king, one had to come into contact with the initial power. And if one wanted to come into contact with the initial power, one had to come into contact with the initial gate.
Therefore, the true Kings probably had some understanding of the initial gate in this world. It was not strange for them to behave like the Black King before them. However, there was one thing that made Philip pay attention to it. “You have come into contact with the initial gate.” Before him, Philip looked at the Black King and said softly as if he was a little curious, “But you don’t seem to be affected by the initial gate…” Even though he said it out of curiosity, Philip’s final words did not contain any emotions. He was like a robot without any emotions.
This was the aftereffect of coming into contact with the initial gate. Based on what Philip felt, coming into contact with the initial gate would inevitably cause one’s emotions and obsession to disappear slowly. In the end, only one’s original self and rationality would be left behind. There would be no obsession at all.
At that point, loved ones would no longer be loved ones, enemies would no longer be enemies, and friends would no longer be friends… Everything would become a stranger without any meaning.
Philip’s current appearance was precisely because of the influence of the initial gate. However, coming into contact with the initial gate, the Black King did not seem to be affected too much. He was still an average person, with fluctuating emotions of an ordinary living being. Philip was very curious about the reason. Hence, he could not help but look at the Black King and ask.
“Relying on…” Facing Philip’s gaze, the Black King’s expression was a little complicated, and he seemed to have understood Philip’s current state. “In this world, if you want to come into contact with the initial gate, there is another way other than personally experiencing the baptism of the initial gate, that is to find a leverage…” “A leverage?” Philip frowned, feeling a little puzzled.
“The so-called leverage is something that represents the origin of this world. It’s also a secret treasure born when the world was created.” Before him, the Black King continued to speak, his voice a little hoarse, “When you come into contact with the initial gate, if you have, you can use these secret treasures to offset the impact of the initial door on yourself.”
“Initial stone tablet?” Hearing the Black King’s words, Philip immediately reacted.
Based on the Black King’s description, this so-called leverage was most likely an existence like the initial stone tablet.
“That’s right.” Facing Philip’s gaze, the Black King did not deny it and admitted it directly.
“So that’s how it is…” Philip instantly understood many things.
So the initial stone tablet had such a function. This meant that it was no wonder that the Kings in the past could resist the invasion of the initial gate and were not affected much. It was also no wonder that the Blue Knight would attack the ancestors of Tarulo and spend all his effort seizing that initial stone tablet. Many of the doubts in the past were solved at this moment.
Philip thought and continued to ask the Black King before him, “If I didn’t leverage on it and directly came into contact with the initial gate, what should I do?”
This question immediately stumped the Black King. The Black King could not help but fall into deep thought.
“If I did not use the initial stone tablet as a support and came into direct contact with the initial gate, I would most likely end up in a horrible situation.” He thought for a moment, then continued, “In my era when I was still alive, there were many strong people who had done this before.”
“These people would usually collapse in the end. Either their bodies would collapse and die, or they would undergo mutations and eventually turn into powerful and terrifying monsters.”
Standing where he was, the Black King could not help but look at Philip. “Among the people I’ve seen, you’re the first person to have such close contact with the initial gate, yet you’re still alive. With such deep contact with the initial gate, even if you don’t die under the initial gate’s pressure, you’ll lose all of your self-will and become a monster who ignores everything. However, you didn’t mutate, and you didn’t ignore everything.” He looked at Philip, and his eyes were filled with deep doubt.
Philip indeed looked very indifferent. Until now, there was no emotional fluctuation in his entire body. Even his true soul was in a clean state. It was so pure that it could scare people to death. However, from the fact that he could take the initiative to appear and save Hechi Star from the Blue Knight, it was clear that he still had not completely lost his self-consciousness. This situation made the Black King very curious.
However, Philip knew that he was good. The reason he still had his consciousness was solely because of Chen Heng, and the main body was still existent. Hence, he could still influence the main body. To a certain extent, he could control Philip’s actions, which was why he had his previous performance. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, even if the entire Hechi Star exploded before him, Philip’s emotions would not fluctuate. Therefore, Philip did not find this strange, but what he cared about was another point.
“Transforming into a monster?” He recalled the Black King’s words and muttered to himself as he also thought of something.
When he came into contact with the initial gate, he often felt powerless. There was a limit to how much the body could withstand the pressure of the initial gate. Once it exceeded that limit, all sorts of nasty things would happen if he continued to come into contact with the initial gate. And Philip’s solution to this situation was to increase the body’s endurance.
He would continuously devour the Demon God’s stone tablet and other powerful bloodlines through the Heaven-Devouring scripture, refining them into his origin and strengthening his own body. In this way, he could constantly transform, allowing him to withstand even greater pressure. It was precisely because of this that Philip was able to walk until now and wasn’t forced to explode by the pressure of the initial gate.
It was evident that he could do this, but others couldn’t. For others, if their bodies were not strong enough to withstand it, their fate was destined to be miserable. In the end, it was just like what the Black King had said, either their bodies would collapse and die, or they would directly transform into all sorts of indescribable monsters.
“You have to pay attention one last time.” The Black King looked at Philip and observed him for a long time before he spoke up and reminded him.
He was very concerned and curious about Philip’s condition from its looks. “If possible, it’s best to find and leverage on an initial stone tablet. It’s safer that way.” The Black King said, “Although I don’t know how you did it, it’s not a good thing if you keep doing it. The cleansing of the initial gate is everywhere, and it can’t be stopped once it’s opened. You’ll lose yourself sooner or later if you continue like this.” “I understand.” Philip nodded, then he continued, “Unfortunately, I don’t know where the initial stone tablet is.”
If possible, Philip would surely want to get something like the initial stone tablet. Even if he did not use it as a tool, he could use it to comprehend the laws of this world and increase his strength. During this period, Philip had also investigated through his subordinates’ information network, but unfortunately, he did not obtain much.
The only reliable thing was the stone tablet that had once been snatched away by the Blue Knight. However, it would be challenging to obtain this stone tablet. The Blue Knight was not one person but five in the team. The Five Knights represented the most powerful group in this world. If one wanted to fight against this group, one had to face five peak sixth rank powerhouses concurrently. There was even a true King among them based on the previous situation.
“Legend has it that there are nine initial stone tablets…” The Black King sighed, “I also had one back then, but unfortunately, it’s lost
now.”
“What would you do after losing the stone tablet?” Philip continued to ask.
Just as the Black King had said, the power of the initial gate was everywhere. If there were no actual contact, it would be reasonable to try to open the initial gate. But if there was contact and the gate was opened, then the power from the initial gate would continuously seep in and entangle your body. There was simply no way to stop it.
The Black King was able to transform into a King, so he had undoubtedly entered the initial gate. And now, the initial stone tablet that he had once used as support was lost. What would happen to the Black King who had revived? Philip was also very curious. Regarding this, the Black King did not hide anything and answered straightforwardly. “Without the support of the initial gate, the King will no longer be a King…” The Black King looked at Philip, then he said softly, “It’s fine under normal circumstances, but once I display the power of a King and reproduce my former strength, the power of the initial gate will instantly devour me. I won’t be any different from the others.”
‘Without leverage, a King will no longer be a King?’ Philip could not help but frown hearing this reply.
“In other words, although I’ve recovered once again before I find my support, I’m already destined not to be able to use the peak strength I once had.” Before continuing, the Black King pondered, “Even if my injuries have completely recovered, and even my true soul has recovered to its original state, my strength is still below that of a peak King.”
In other words, even if the Black King had recovered to its original state, without any support, it would at most be slightly stronger than Crimson Knight and the other peak sixth rank powerhouses. However, it would still be inferior to a peak King. Philip frowned, understanding what he meant.
‘An initial stone tablet…’ Various thoughts flashed through Philip’s mind before he thought of another question, ‘How many initial stone tablets were there in the Round Table?’
The Five Knights in the Round Table were all at the peak of the sixth rank, close to the King’s Domain. Such figures would most likely be able to come into contact with the existence of the initial gate. If they had another initial stone tablet to leverage on, they might be able to try to break through and reach an even higher level.
In other words, what restricted the breakthrough of the Five Knights was not their abilities but the number of initial stone tablets that could be used as leverage.
So, how many initial stone tablets were there in the Round Table?
