Chapter 508 (1/2)
The Seed of Origin, the first life form created by the Goddess could be called the progenitor of life in the Plane of Dreams. At least from what information they have at hand for now. Hao Ren had seen something similar to the Seed of Origin in his dreams before. It was a bloody orb and once it comes into contact with a habitable planet it will explosively grow into something like the First Born, creating a whole new ecosystem. The primal blood that flowed from the Seed of Origin carried within it all the required nutrients to sustain the early stages of the ecosystem. The blood of the First Born was probably the closest thing to the primal blood.
Hao Ren had assumed that the Holletta’s Seed of Origin had already fully withered and all its primal energy had became the First Born and the second ecosystem sphere. He never thought that there were remains of the seed. It was found by the first Pope of the Disciples of Glory, and he used these primal blood to create the first holy warriors of the church and a series of divine abilities.
“We are still investigating the matter.” Cardinal Orben chose his words carefully. “We had found only recently found out where the church’s teaching were slightly.. problematic, and trying to get a full picture of the primal blood from those tattered tomes had proved to be rather difficult. But all in all we can confirm that the holy blood is the primal blood of the Seed of Origin… strictly speaking though, it is just a reproduction of it.
“Reproduction?” Vivian’s eyebrow rose.
“There were precious little left of the primal blood when it was found.” Cardinal Orben explained. “By the time His Excellency the First Pope found the blood, it had almost dried up. But he had managed to figure out a way to maintain the production of the blood. Using external stimuli, the primal blood could recreate itself endlessly. Only that ensured the growth of the church for many more years to come. Otherwise we would have run out of the blood within years.
“I can probably guess what is the external stimuli that you are referring to.” Hao Ren rubbed his chin. “It is probably to mimic the planet’s most primal state. That misled the blood into thinking that there was a reset of the ecosystem, and it started producing again to sustain the ecosystem.”
Cardinal Orben kept silent, the reproduced blood was one of the church’s most vital secrets. Even for a foreigner who had obtained the nod from the Pope and the King themselves, these secrets were too vital to let out. But his silence was a tacit acknowledgement of the fact.
“What’s the difference between the reproduction and the real thing?” Vivian was the expert on matters of ‘blood’ and her questions were pointed.
“No difference at all.” Cardinal Orben replied. “The primal blood is a great creation of the Goddess. It can replicate itself in totality, thus the reproduction is the real thing. Truth be told, the original blood found had already been used up and the ones we have preserved are reproductions of countless of times. But it still remained pure and powerful, and it’s effects the same as the initial samples.”
“I wish to have a sample.” Hao Ren went straight to the point. “To study more about the First Born’s connection to the blood.”
It was only a half-truth. Hao Ren’s real intention was to study the connection between the primal blood and the Goddess herself!
The life spawned from the Seed of Origin was like an ever-spreading ink on top of water. With the every change of the ecosystem, new life were formed as they grew more distant from their primal form and progenitor. Following this unique backward-push growth of the Plane of Dream’s Tree of Life. Only the most ancient, most primal of lifeforms are the closest to their creator. So the Seed of Origin was arguably even closer to the Goddess than the First Born was. It was probably the closest thing to the Goddess Hao Ren could ever find for now!
To date all that Hao Ren and his little entourage had managed to find were fossils of all kinds, and yet the Disciples of Glory had managed to preserve a living sample of the Seed of Origin!
Cardinal Orben had only brought them to see how the ritual branding took place, but he had no plans to hand over the primal blood to a group of outlanders. He demurred upon hearing Hao Ren’s request. “The primal blood is a sacred relic, it’s the church’s most prized relic, even if they are reproductions…”
“You just said it.” Nangong Wuyue retorted without much thought. “Since it can be reproduced, and you guys probably have tonnes of those, just a small phial wouldn’t hurt….”
“The sanctity of a sacred relic is not determined by it’s amount.” Cardinal Orben’s face tightened, but given how rigid his face already was, there was no difference. “The most important thing is that the primal blood had never been handed to an outsider before.”
“And two months ago, the First Born hadn’t appeared.” Hao Ren raised an eyebrow. “This is a time of extraordinary events, so you need to be adaptable to survive. Your blood could probably get you a new army, but I can probably find a way to safely neutralise the First Born. After all, the First Born originated from the blood.”