The Monarch-Chapter 422: Konan
For how long? Perhaps in the next realm, the emperor would no longer be able to rival Kayden. Did this truly exist? What kind of unbelievable and absurd talent was that?
"Just a silly detail," Kayden thought.
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Kayden took a hundred years to understand how to advance to the fourth realm. This was a realm of extreme importance, almost as much as the fifth, as it was the foundation for divinity. In the past, he had no idea of this, but after so many years observing souls, he realized that the fifth realm transformed someone into a semi-god, and the foundation for that realm was in the fourth.
This meant that the foundation of divinity began in the fourth realm, and Kayden needed to reflect deeply on how to become a god. He had no clue and didn’t even know where to find such information.
In the end, the only answer he found was the same he applied to everything in his life: his path was the answer. Kayden spent ninety years struggling with a foolish idea, and another ten to realize his true concept. He fused his path with his soul—the monarch’s path was imposed on his soul in a completely irrational way. Kayden tied his life to his path, so that if he changed his mind or had the slightest doubt, he would die, and his soul would completely disintegrate.
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It was ridiculously insane, for even the slightest lapse could make his soul collapse. Fortunately, Kayden was utterly mad; not for a single day of his life had he doubted his path, not even after spending billions of years as a soul.
The ascension to the fourth realm was smooth and without difficulties. Kayden was beginning to be frightened by his strength. It was an absurd level of power, with things happening ridiculously easily for him.
"Congratulations, master," said Konan, having been beaten enough to understand the difference in power between him and Kayden. It took a long time, but he finally realized he was facing a true monster.
As Kayden occasionally trained the emperor’s three sons, he eventually earned the title of master informally, as he never directly took any of them as disciples.
Kayden’s relationship with the nobility was peculiar. He didn’t participate in public events and rarely had tea with the emperor or the five main leaders, and that was it. Kayden’s name practically disappeared during this period.
His family had been without news of him for so long that they no longer bothered asking the emperor about him. Kayden had washed his hands of it entirely and lived as a true hermit, with the only human contact being the princes and the five.
Konan never managed to win a fight against Kayden, no matter how long he remained in the same realm. Kayden was always ahead, and most of the time, it was a tiny detail that turned the fight completely in his favor.
At the moment, Konan was in the sixth realm, but even then, he was unable to win his battles through brute force alone. At best, he forced Kayden to use a little more of his power.
No one knew exactly how strong Kayden was since he never needed to use his full strength to win. Most of his victories came from technical massacres. He seemed like someone who had fought for thousands of years.
Kayden admired Konan’s demonic determination, which was why he pushed the prince so hard in training. As for the other two, he just did the minimum, teaching them a few things from time to time.
If Konan continued with that determination for a few more millennia, Kayden wouldn’t hesitate to accept him as a disciple. Passing on his knowledge was a great way to review the fundamentals, and it almost cost him no time.
"What?" Konan, destroyed on the ground, seemed to have heard the craziest thing of his life.
"Break your cultivation and destroy your path," said Kayden, smiling as he looked at Konan. This was the final test, to see how far the prince’s trust in him would go.
"But..." Konan hesitated. The situation was completely sudden, and the request was even crazier than he could imagine. Doubts began to invade his mind like a whirlwind.
"You have five minutes to decide," Kayden issued the ultimatum, still smiling. Every second, the prince seemed to go through thousands of decisions, without reaching any conclusion.
Slowly, the minutes passed. It was just the two of them in the training area. Konan couldn’t turn to anyone for advice. He knew this was a test, but he had no idea what kind.
Finally, he made the most important decision of his life and broke all his cultivation. The pain was utterly surreal, burning every inch of the boy’s body. In a few seconds, he was reduced to a mere apprentice.
Fortunately, his body was capable of surviving naturally for a few more decades. One of the major effects of regressing cultivation was gaining a few more years of life—something many mages at the end of their lives used.
"Congratulations, Konan. You had an excellent path, but you would never have passed the seventh realm. And beyond that, you would have died on this planet," said Kayden, catching the prince off guard.
Konan was given an hour to recover from the shock of breaking his cultivation, and then he was hit with that harsh truth. All the honor of his family was destroyed, and...
"I know, master," Konan replied, bowing his head, unsure of what to do. Kayden’s words were harsh but completely accurate.
"Since you took that leap of faith, I will accept you as my disciple," Kayden said, and Konan’s eyes lit up. "But that means giving up everything, if necessary. Sooner or later, you will lose all your relatives. The pursuit of power is lonely."
"What do you mean, master?" Konan understood more or less where Kayden was going with this.
"I have two paths for you, Konan. The first is for you to become strong and end up owning this planet. The other is for you to become a god, but you will probably die along the way."
