'I can just turn all of them into my slaves.'
Austin drummed his fingers into his chin. He was contemplating his next move as he watched the eight
strong men were trembling with fear. As he observed them, he had lost his interest to frighten them
further.
So, he found a method that he thought would best work in his favor. After all, once he subdued these
creatures, he could also ask them what happened in the Sword Cosmos by inquiring them.
Shoop! Shoop! Shoop!
Numerous red puppet strings shot out. Like a heavy rain, they headed straight towards the eight strong
men at a staggering speed, and engulfed them.
"Arrggghhhh! What the fuck are these? They're inside my Soul Sea!"
"Damn it! They are entangling my spiritual soul!"
The eight men gave panicked cries. Their eyes widened as the crimson strings crawled inside.
There was once a time where Austin had a hard time subduing genuine divine gods due to their
powerful nature. But now, Austin's spiritual sense had considerably grown. Turning them into his slaves
now didn't even make him sweat.
However, something unexpected happened.
"Arrgh! Get out of my Soul Sea!"
To Austin's surprise, he had a hard time subjugating them. They kept thrashing and struggling.
"Huh?
Ah, I see. It turns out that the bodies of these creatures contain a trace of great cosmos force, making
their spiritual souls stronger!
This makes them more difficult to subdue compared to the genuine divine gods in other parts of the
Sea of Chaos,"
Austin speculated out loud.
'Hmm, it looks like there is a glaring difference between the supreme universe and the ordinary
cosmos. The energy in the former is more advanced.
Is it possible that the god of chaos cultivates the great cosmos force?'
Austin delved deeper into his thoughts.
Shoop! Shoop! Shoop!
This drawback was minor. Austin persisted and continued activating his spiritual sense and unleashed
more puppet strings. More of them shot out, creating a stream of red cords around the eight creatures.
It took him some time, but eventually, his efforts paid off.
After an hour, Austin had successfully turned them into slaves. He gave a big sigh of relief and wiped
the sweat on his brow.
"Master!"
Standing in front of Austin, his new slaves bowed obediently.
"Okay."
Austin acknowledged and waved his hand to remove the effect of the Secret Reincarnation Skill he had
just performed on them.
The space around them instantly returned to its normal state.
The eight men stood beside him, awaiting his orders.
"You!" Austin called out to one of them.
"Tell me the current situation of the Sword Cosmos,"
he ordered.
"Of course, master,"
the man gleefully replied, as if flattered that he was chosen. He stepped forward and explained the
recent events in the Sword Cosmos, sparing no details.
Austin nodded his head as he listened to his new slave. Thanks to him, he now had an inkling of what
was going on around there.
From what he was told, Master Sword and his four disciples disappeared in the ancient times.
Due to this, several major forces in the Sword Cosmos worked together to deal with his youngest
disciple.
When they started, they made little to no progress at all—it was a stalemate.
Eventually, some heinous forces in the Sword Cosmos colluded with forces outside their universe.
They let them in, letting their armies invade the Sword Cosmos.
As a result, Master Sword's only disciple became a casualty in this feud. He died on the spot.
After his death, the major forces in the Sword Cosmos began to fight against each other to acquire the
ruling power of the Sword Cosmos. This chaotic era lasted for eons.
The entirety of the Sword Cosmos was in shambles. Aftermaths of the battle were everywhere, and
none of these forces yielded—they all wanted power.
Unfortunately, there were other universes that took advantage of this lawless situation.
This battle for power was eventually recognized by the Blade Cosmos,
a long-time enemy of the Sword Cosmos.
Back then, when Master Sword was still around, they had fought with the Blade Cosmos numerous
times. This harbored hatred between two parties.
Since the Sword Cosmos was in an utter mess, the chief of the Blade Cosmos took this as an
opportunity for him to exact his revenge.
Therefore, he sent an army, and waged a war against them.
The Sword Cosmos was greatly disadvantaged due to their civil war. Therefore, they were unprepared
for the attack from the Blade Cosmos and were caught off-guard. Eventually, almost half of the territory
was occupied by the Blade Cosmos.
Left with no other choice, the remaining forces of the Sword Chaos had to unite to fight against a
greater evil.
Eventually, what happened was half of the Sword Cosmos was occupied by the army sent by the Blade
Cosmos, and the other half was occupied by native creatures who were still fighting against each other.
It was an impasse—no one could defeat the other.
This was the reason why strong blade auras could be felt around the Sword Cosmos.
"I see."
Austin nodded after he heard the whole story,
"Then, what about the Hand of Heaven?"
Austin asked.
"What?!"
The eight men suddenly visibly panicked, and fear crept onto their faces. Then, they shifted their gaze
skywards, as if fearing something to happen above.
"Hush!
Be careful with what you say, master! Don't talk nonsense.
We can't speak out that term!
Otherwise, we will get into trouble, I mean, very big trouble!"
one of them said to Austin cautiously in a trembling voice.
"Oh?
Tell me more about it,"
Austin asked, his curiosity growing stronger.
"It would be best if we converse through our spiritual sense, master.
I don't have the guts to say it out loud.
I'm not sure what I would do if I provoke that horrible creature. This would entail problems not only for
me, but also for you and everyone here. We'd all be instantly killed,"
the slave whispered to him. As he spoke, he peeped into the void above his head from time to time, as
if a terrifying creature would appear all of a sudden.
"Okay."
Austin was speechless, surrendering to that suggestion.
He was confident with his current strength. Wherever he went, he would fear nobody and nothing.
Therefore, although the man was careful and looked frightened, Austin didn't take it seriously and even
felt it a little funny.
Whoosh!
The man sent a message through his spiritual sense into Austin's Soul Sea.
It was the information about the Hand of Heaven.
"Oh, wow.
This happened in the Sword Cosmos before? This is strange."
After reading the information about the Hand of Heaven, Austin frowned.
The event happened decades ago was more horrible than Austin anticipated.
According to his slave's story,
a giant hand fell from the sky and appeared in the Sword Cosmos.
It was humongous and concentrated with extremely terrifying energy. Even the governing gods of the
Sword Cosmos could not stop it.
The first time the giant hand appeared, it wiped out all the members of a famous sect in the Sword
Cosmos and absorbed all the blood and flesh essence.
Every time this giant hand appeared again, it would annihilate countless creatures in the Sword
Cosmos.
There are instances where it would kill more, and sometimes it would take less. There was no definite
amount.
No one knew how many creatures had been killed by it up till now.
The more horrifying part was that as soon as this hand appeared and targeted a certain individual,
there was no possibility of escape. The best they could do was to succumb to their fate and accept
death.
Due to the amount of damage it caused in them, every living being in the Sword Cosmos was
traumatized by this feat.
Everyone knew that as soon as this giant hand appeared, numerous creatures would definitely perish.
They could only hope that it would only take fewer than usual.
Escaping its grasp was impossible.
It was akin to the hand of destiny, controlling the lives of every living being in the Sword Cosmos.
Therefore, everyone called this giant hand the Hand of Heaven.
Because of its evil nature, some beings in the Sword Cosmos also addressed it as the Hand of Devil.
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