Nine Venoms Sect Founder

With nearly two centuries of exploration, Harun had seen his fair share of eccentrics, madmen, sociopaths and any other kind of certified or uncertified lunatics. Considering the System's warnings, he came prepared for the worst. But the ongoing interaction with this captive convinced him that, while the fallen expert definitely had some issues, it hadn't reached the point where he'd turn into Gollum's twin brother. Wait, Gollum?

Snapping out of his stupor, Harun realized that he'd been looking at this the wrong way. This was yet another case of chronic insanity. Perhaps the man's psyche had been abused to the point his mind needed these explosive bouts to relieve itself. Perhaps he'd always been this way. Regardless, unless he could keep that madness focused on his enemies, Harun didn't see much benefit in consorting with this blue-haired immortal. And while the System guaranteed that the man couldn't turn against him, the tiniest mistake, a miscalculated Qi blast from a potential Ancestor could very well…end the Heavenly Dream Land. 

"HAHAHA! Hateful, so hateful! The FATHER, the SON…ALL SO HATEFUL! AAAARGH THE HATRED! I love the hatred. Hatred is the shit. Feels so right and proper. Yes, yes, yes…why don't we let hate out more often? Would make everyone's life so much more fulfilling! Where's the misery? WHERE ARE THE ME?! I WILL KILL YOU BOTH! I WILL KILL YOU ALL—and then blow myself up. Hahaha…AAAAARGH!" The fallen omniarch pushed his hands and feet against the nails pinning them down. The needles pricking his brain and heart sank deeper into their targets—worsening the his mental disorder. 

Sitting in the lotus position, Harun joined his hands in a prayer sign and shut his eyes close.

"Undisturbed I am, Undisturbed is my soul. My breaths, my steps, my heart, my eyes and will. Undisturbed is my being, free from truth and falsehood. At the nexus of the Ultimate Reality, I open my eyes."

With nothing else to try, Harun used the same mantra he'd given Birandar. Thanks to his disciple, Harun now had the complete version. And while he'd not used it yet, the results couldn't possibly be worse than this nightmare. When the first words resounded, the fallen omniarch's thrashing reached the acme. Driven by a suicidal impulse, he contorted his head, smashed his skull against the ground, bit his lips with the full power of his jaw…yet couldn't harm himself. The blood tears streamed like a breaking dam, and the screams chilled the atmosphere. 

Not losing confidence in the mantra, Harun chanted with a singular purpose, strengthening his Karmic Link to the erratic expert. For half a minute, the immortal's spasms intensified, his eyes rolled back, but when any clear-headed soul would have written him off as a lost cause, Harun persevered. A wheel of white and purple mist formed above the crazed expert's forehead—rotating at maximum speed. No third eye followed, but the faster the wheel spun, the stabler the man became. Multicolored light burst from Harun's body, his Inner Flame and Spiritual Incense gushed forth, empowering the chant that connected him to the fallen omniarch's frenzied soul. The spasms and screams came to a screeching halt. The blindfold broke into pieces, revealing a pair of deadpan, scarlet eyes. Minutes of odd silence followed, with neither Harun nor the fallen expert making the tiniest move. 

"My apologies. This happens from time to time. I didn't expect that one so weak could master such a profound mantra. You remind of an odd lad. If you don't follow in his footsteps, your future is undoubtedly limitless," the fallen omniarch said in a distant but serious tone, then closed his eyes.

"To thank you for your help, the first move is free. As for the Immortal Phoenix Tree leaves, I suppose that the best place to look for one is a world of hum…what's the word nowadays…Ancient and Mythical Bloodlines? Good luck." 

Although the fallen expert didn't have any connection to the Six Incarnations Bridge, the fluctuations of his heart rate and breathing pattern fed Harun countless information. With a finger-snap, he restored the blindfold and left the coffin's internal world. Little did Harun know that, as soon as he left the coffin, a voice rang in the blue-haired expert's mind. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. And here I was wondering what it would take. Cucks will be cucks, I suppose." Hearing that disapproving voice, the blue-haired captive trembled, but ultimately remained stoic.

…

Returning to the outside world, Harun wasn't surprised to see that aside from Jiyan and Mukri, Mehran and Gulseni also stood beside him. In their eyes, he could see countless questions taking shape. But long before they could voice their concerns, he'd seen through all they had to say. 

"How ironic that you can now control all divine cultivators below the Ascending God Realm, when those are precisely the targets your totem's worms will not spare. I wonder, should you warn your subordinates about your Scourge Points? And mention that, with every genocide they complete, the worms are effectively speeding up your destruction? What an insufferable situation. On the one hand, you want to be honest with them. On the other hand, making them unable to sleep at night is not exactly what your faction needs. And let's not forget that, handled well, this scenario could bring your future bolt marks to an unrivaled level. Tough situation," the System told Harun.

It was entirely correct. The current situation was catastrophic at best. True, one could argue that if Harun challenged the Unyielding Tribulation in another setting, he would have crossed it without much damage. After all, as he took himself as a bait and used it to cripple Weeping Soul's "final gift," Harun didn't have the luxury to set up defensive formations or use all the tools at his disposal with maximum efficiency. But now, none of that mattered. No matter how mighty the formation, if the Scourge Points kept going up, unless Harun became immortal, he couldn't survive the next challenge. Right now, he couldn't even consider using Heavenly Tribulation to condense more bolt marks. Fortunately, he didn't have to. 

Sweeping his partner and subordinates, Harun reassured them with a confident gaze, then stopped on Mehran. "I've seen what you've done in my absence. Good job. The situation called for extreme measures; you couldn't have handled it better. I assume Birandar is on the way back?" Harun asked, and Mehran replied with an affirmative nod.

After a gentle brush of Jiyan's cheeks, Harun stood up, leading the way toward the official meeting room. Taking the honor seat, Harun closed his eyes and manifested in Birandar's mind. "Let's speed this up, shall we?" He said and wrapped Birandar in Spiritual Incense, making him race across dozens of kilometers in a single breath. Rushing past the former royal palace's gates, Birandar teleported into the meeting room, landing at the opposite end of the table. 

After appraising Harun's condition with his Karmic Wheel, Birandar dropped on his knees and in silence, kowtowed toward his master. The move confused them all. In fact, Harun, who could read the guilt and bubbling emotions in his disciple's heart, was the most baffled of all. It was almost as if it was Birandar, and not the Serpent Totem, that cast this plague on the Mountain Edge World. Moreover, Harun could sense that the only reason why Birandar didn't open up, was that he knew of and feared an adverse reaction from the Eye of Sovereign Fate. 

But with the Right of Tyranny sheltering his soul, at the very least, Harun didn't fear past truths, and so probed his disciple's thoughts. The result left him speechless.