Nine

Realizing he was just wasting his time, he put killing on the backburner for a moment, instead just running in search of the tribe chief.

It didn't take much to find him, the large three tailed cat man warding off three boar people all on his own.

Nine wanted to join the fight, but the clash was just far beyond his level, so he could only watch from a distance.

It didn't take long for his appearance to be noticed, the three tailed cat man suddenly looking towards him and shouting.

"Nine, run away and escape this place! They've already got us surrounded on all sides!"

"No Chief, how could I abandon the tribe!?"

"Now isn't the time to be brave boy, run and take as many of your brothers with you as you can. My fate is sealed, but yours isn't."

"B-"

"No buts, they've already noticed you!" The Chief said, his words immediately coming to fruition as a few boar people surrounded Nine.

Knowing that the young Nine was incapable of handling all of them, the Chief immediately activated a forbidden move, his body glowing green as he burned all the vitality within him.

Exploding the Nux out from within him, he sent the three boar men soaring, their bodies bloody and bruised, possibly already dead.

Not bothered to check, he just made his way towards Nine, using this new power to fend off the large group that had formed around him.

But it was soon clear that there were just too many boar people, not to mention this was clearly a premeditated attack, and there were other tribes mixed in as well.

The boar tribe was already hard enough to handle, so with multiple tribes attacking them at once, it was clear they had already lost.

Knowing there was no escape, the Chief suddenly grabbed Nine, using all his strength to toss the boy out into the distance.

As Nine flew off, the Chief shouted out behind him, his lungs and throat nearly exploding from the pressure he put on them at this moment.

"From this moment on, you are the new chief Nine! Rebuild, and make something indestructible!"

Hearing the chiefs roar, Nine's eyes welled up with tears, but the pain of crashing somehow helped suppress his deep depression.

Fortunately his cultivation was quite ahead of his peers, so other than a few scrapes, the fall didn't do much.

Dusting the dirt and mud from his cloth, Nine stood up firmly, a deep breath submerging all his negative feelings.

'I will Chief, I'll be just like those humans you've told me about! I'll make a Kingdom, one so vast that it can never fall!'

…

Opening his eyes, Minos came back to the real world, everyone still looking at him with anticipation, as if no time had passed at all.

He had never expected he would see the Nine-Tailed Emperor's origin story, and too think it was so… Cliche.

Though maybe that just meant that suffering was a much more eternal theme than joy, after all it seemed like all legendary figures' lives started with some sort of loss.

Thinking of such, he couldn't help but think back to his own story, realizing it was the exact same.

Maybe it took some sort of loss for greatness to be revealed, or maybe loss was just the norm, and happiness was instead the exception.

Minos was more prone to believe the second, after all his life had been one loss after another, of course he was a special case, so maybe he was just biased.

Regardless, Minos sympathized with the Nine-Tailed Emperor, after all he knew well what it was like to lose one's home and be tossed into the world with nothing and no one.

Shaking these depressing thoughts from his head, he looked back up at the statue, though this time the Cat-Eyed Gem reacted normally.

As it filtered into him, Minos felt like he was suddenly dipped into a cold bath, a chill spreading throughout him before warmth returned as the light left him.

But it didn't leave alone, instead taking something with it, though what exactly that 'something' was, Minos didn't know.

But the Cat-Eyed Gem knew, the light stringing together to form a blurry shadow that soon took form.

However, as the form became clearer and clearer, the crowd couldn't help but jump up with shock, the king even nearly falling from the terrace as he leaned forward, his eyes almost bulging from his head.

There, standing above Minos was a man, though it wasn't Minos, instead it was a replica of the statue beside it, the Nine-Tailed Emperor!

"N-N-N-Nine-Tailed Emperor!" One man couldn't help but shout, his words shocking the others out of their reverie.

"My heaven's, it's the Nine-Tailed Emperor!"

"It's really him, praise the heavens, praise the heavens!"

As if some instinct was activated within them, the crowd immediately began kneeling, their hearts filled with reverence and praise, some even crying tears of joy.

"I-Impossible!" The king stuttered, nearly collapsing on his rear, only being held up by the eunuch beside him.

"What does this mean?" One royal asked, not sure what to take of this.

"What else could it mean, that boy, he's chosen!" Another replied immediately.

"Not necessarily, maybe the boy's nature just matches the Nine-Tailed Emperor's?"

"You say that as if the Nine-Tailed Emperor's nature is something casual! This alone means that boy is special."

"That's right, after all the Nine-Tailed Emperor is the most brilliant man to ever live, to have his nature is the greatest gift one could ask for!"

"Wait! Look, the vision isn't over yet!" Another royal shouted out, causing the group to stop bickering for a moment and look back.

As everyone focused back on the vision, they saw the still Nine-Tailed Emperor suddenly raise his hand.

This simple movement seemed to contain infinite charm, millions of eyes glued towards it as if afraid to miss a single second.

As they watched with mesmerized eyes, they saw the hand finally stop on the Cat-Eyed Gem, pulling it out from within the statue's hand!

As if the shock of today wasn't enough, this pushed the crowd even further, after all despite how grand the phantoms looked, they were just that, phantoms incapable of interacting with the world.

But Minos broke that rule for the first time ever, his Nine-Tailed Emperor phantom taking the Cat-Eyed Gem in hand with no repercussions.

Holding the gem for a moment, the Nine-Tailed Emperor suddenly turned towards Minos, smiling gently as he flicked the Cat-Eyed Gem, causing it to almost instantly pierce into Minos's right eye.

Like acid meeting flesh, Minos immediately felt a deep burning pain in his eye, but he was used to such pain, so his face made no changes.

After only a moment, the pain dissipated, Minos's right eye re-opening, though no longer it's normal blue, but rather a vibrant green.

At the same time, Minos heard a whisper within his ear, the voice both familiar yet foreign.

"Enjoy my eye, I hope it can help you in the ways it helped me."

After saying that, Minos's mind was flooded with more information, telling him exactly what ability this eye had.

Similar to its gem form, this new eye of his could see through people's nature, though that was only its surface level ability.

The true nature of this eye was changing people's nature, which was something that even shocked Minos.

While he had access to a somewhat similar ability via his Heart Path, he could only change emotions, and the change was temporary at that, but this eye could change a person's fundamental nature, permanently!

Turn a mouse into a lion, a thief into a saint, a murderer into a doctor, that was all possible!

Of course this change didn't come at no price, and the difficulty of such a change was related to two factors.

First, the difference between the old nature and new nature, and secondly, the strength of the person themselves.

The weaker they were compared to Minos, the easier it was, and on the other hand, it was near impossible to change the nature of those stronger than him.

In fact, even those of similar strength weren't easy to change, but despite such, the ability was still heaven-defying.

It was no wonder the Nine-Tailed Emperor was capable of creating such a vast kingdom in such a short time, with this ability he likely had no lack of loyal men below him.

At the same time, Minos also suddenly understood how the Nine-Tailed Emperor had managed to maintain the loyalty of the Forbidden Palace after all these years!

It seemed the Cat-Eyed Gem wasn't simply a tool to reveal the next king's nature, and in fact it's true purpose was much more complicated than anyone could imagine.