After everything was settled, Eleri ran over to Darian, excited. "Master, Bloopie says he knows a lot of hidden underground treasures around here. He wants to show his loyalty."
Darian looked at the smiling girl. On her shoulder sat a tiny Spring-Bringer Worm, only a few centiters long. That creature had the ability to tamorphose and could turn into sothing much smaller.
It had probably been alive since the ti when the Roc still ruled the universe. It was literally a creature millions of years old, extrely intelligent, yet now it behaved like Eleri's pet.
Darian observed it closely and noticed ordinary black karma, but with a tendency toward gray. That surprised him a little. Even after living for so long, that figure didn't enjoy being evil. As for Eleri, she was no longer an innocent little girl who could be fooled; she could easily sense anyone's intentions.
Bloopie also focused its senses on Darian seriously. Within a few seconds, its aura changed completely, becoming gentler and slightly submissive.
Right now, that Worm was emitting an aura of life even stronger than before, and that was after receiving only a small portion of Eleri's power. Now, using all of its experience to evaluate Darian, it instinctively realized sothing that shocked it.
It felt nothing.
The only ti in its life it had been unable to asure soone was with the Roc itself, back when he was still alive. In the world of cultivation, trying to evaluate soone far, far above you was impossible. So finding a human who triggered an instinctive sense of danger, yet showed absolutely nothing at all, deeply frightened it.
Added to the fact that Eleri was the strangest and most beneficial figure it had ever t in its entire life, it accepted this as fate and truly intended to follow her. After all, it had been trapped in Golden Sky Mountain for a very long ti. It was bored with the purposeless life it had lived for ages.
"Alright." Darian nodded and started walking.
Everyone had already collected the spatial rings and everything the dead people owned, so they calmly returned to the surface.
While everyone recovered from minor injuries and organized the gains, Awel rged into the atmosphere and began scouting the area.
After a few minutes, Darian called Herta and Hart.
"You should take this Spring-Bringer Worm with you. It will point out places with good treasures and is experienced enough to help you avoid dangers."
They nodded excitedly. Their race would definitely get along very well with this Spring-Bringer Worm, and now they wouldn't need to randomly search for things anymore.
"Did the race leader, Sylvanos, say anything to you about where he was going? Why did he and the two Elders enter the first opening?" Darian asked, intrigued. He hadn't seen the three of them when passing to the second opening of that place.
Herta nodded. "The leader and the Elders went to the Abyss Forest. It's exactly on the border between the inner and outer regions. It takes longer to reach through the outer region, but he knew the City Lord would delay the second opening for several hours because of Sir. That way, he would arrive before the other, more powerful people."
Darian understood. Inside the Golden Sky World, there were four notable locations known by everyone as the most deadly. The first was the most obvious: the central region.
The other three were in the inner region. One of them was the Abyss Forest, where Sylvanos and the Elders had gone.
Darian didn't have information about any treasures in those four regions, but he knew the most powerful people of the Primordial Empire and the four clans might have headed to those places. That was because he had only encountered minor leaders of those five powers causing trouble outside them.
"Hmmm… if he went to the Abyss Forest, then I'll take a look at the Diamond Lake…" Darian murmured, but stopped mid-sentence after receiving an urgent ssage from Awel.
After hearing her words, he snorted. Then he turned to Eleri. She understood and murmured sothing to Bloopie, probably telling it to behave, as if it really were her new pet. Then the Worm jumped onto Herta's shoulder.
Darian turned to all the Wood Spirits. "Sothing big might happen before it's ti for everyone to return. But you don't need to rush back. If you run into other groups of Wood Spirits, point out treasure locations for them to go to. Collect every treasure you can safely obtain."
Everyone felt the urgency in his words and nodded firmly.
Without delay, Eleri returned to the inventory, and Darian shot through the skies without caring about the danger. He had already released the flying beast from before, and now regretted it a little.
…
One hour later, Darian crossed the entrance of a cave hidden in an isolated region.
The air inside was heavy. It carried a tallic sll of blood mixed with a sharp, corrosive stench of poison.
Awel was there, her expression filled with tension. At her feet, a young woman lay motionless, covered in a disturbing mix of scarlet blood and black stains.
Her violet clothes, once symbols of luxury, were now nothing but shredded rags. The face that once radiated arrogant beauty was now twisted by agony.
It was Maeyu.
Awel had found her collapsed, taking her final breaths. Her injuries were absurdly severe; if not for the ergency pills Awel carried, she would already be gone.
Darian didn't waste ti. He extended his hand and channeled the White Power.
A pure, icy light flooded the cave. Within seconds, the torn flesh closed up, and the black poison stains evaporated like smoke under the sun.
Next, he took out a vital energy Artifact. A wave of warmth ran through the young woman's body, restoring her lost vitality.
If not for the destroyed clothes, no one would say she had been seconds away from death.
Maeyu abruptly opened her eyes.
When she saw Darian, her body spasd. She quickly sat up, her breathing erratic and her eyes wide.
Darian let out a cold sigh. "Do you rember what happened?"
Maeyu trembled violently. As she looked at the man in front of her, reality hit her. She lowered her head, and heavy tears began to fall, mixing with the dirt on the ground.
"Calm down… the master is here," Awel murmured as she approached, trying to comfort her with a gentle touch.
Maeyu forced air into her lungs. With an expression of pure despair, she clung to the hope she had left and focused on Darian.
"Big sister… please… she might still be alive!"
Darian simply nodded, his gaze asking for details.
Maeyu broke down and started talking. Jason had ordered everyone in her clan to act according to the Primordial Empire's commands, which could change depending on the situation. At first, during the first months inside, everyone was free to explore and search for treasures. So she, Saelil, and nearly five hundred clan mbers were searching for treasures in those lands.
Until they finally ran into a large group of soldiers from the Primordial Empire.
They weren't top-tier figures, but they acted like executioners, massacring smaller sects to loot their belongings.
"Saelil couldn't stay still," Maeyu sobbed. "She confronted them. There was a battle, but she… she showed rcy. She let them escape."
Darian narrowed his eyes. In the world of cultivators, rcy was often an invitation to disaster.
And the disaster ca.
Almost a week later, a Prince of the Empire — who was also a Primordial Chosen — found them. There was no battle, only a massacre.
At the last mont, Saelil activated a life-saving treasure on Maeyu, throwing her sister far away while hell descended on the rest of the group.
"My sister wasn't killed… I heard him!" Maeyu's voice rose, on the verge of hysteria. "He said he would capture her alive for sothing important. He had a terrifying aura… fluctuations of Nether power and curses. I'm sure he ca from the Tomb of the Nether Beasts."
The Tomb of the Nether Beasts. The last of the three deadly locations in the inner region. A sacred land of death, where thousands of powerful Nether Beasts had been slaughtered at once in the war of the past.
Darian sighed, adjusting his posture.
"I understand. I was already planning to go to one of the deadly locations. I'll go there. If your sister is still breathing, I'll bring her back."
Maeyu froze. She didn't know how to react. Her clan master had declared Darian a mortal enemy, yet here he was, acting with almost divine indifference, as if her clan were nothing more than dust on his path.
Darian didn't wait for thanks. With a casual motion, he tossed her a bottle of pills and several high-level items, spoils from the dead he had collected in this world.
Then, a rune of light floated to Maeyu's forehead and rged into her mind. They were maps, locations, and details he had received from Alaric.
"There are three treasure points within a few kiloters," Darian said, already turning away. "I advise you to stay in this area and look for those safely. That way I'll know where to find you when I co back with her."
He gestured to Awel, who imdiately moved to his side.
Darian left the cave without looking back.
Maeyu remained motionless, watching the back of that man disappear into the forest's gloom. She couldn't say a single word.
His steps were fast and hurried. He looked indifferent on the surface, but it was clear he wanted to reach that place as quickly as possible to try to save that person.
Darian truly wanted to save soone who was clearly honest and good. But the main reason was that he had stumbled upon sothing important and hidden from the Empire, and he needed to go check it.
Without delay, Awel vanished and went to scout the area.
A few seconds later, Awel found another flying beast that lived there. Darian then shot off toward the north.
***
Two days later, Darian released the beast and continued on his own, walking across a prairie.
As he moved forward, strange grass grew taller and taller. Eventually, it reached the height of trees, and the sinister energy in the air beca more and more oppressive.
He had officially arrived at the Tomb of the Nether Beasts. However, the place was imnse, and a curse originating from the Beasts, along with extrely dense Nether power, covered everything. Darian didn't allow Awel to scout inside, as he sensed it would be dangerous.
When he activated his senses to look for the karma of soone alive, he felt nothing. He knew why. Nether power had a peculiar characteristic. He had felt the sa thing when he tried to perceive sothing inside the Black Sea in the past, back when he was still on that first island.
It was as if his senses were limited to just a few ters because of that power. The problem wasn't the curse itself, since that was a technique above the immortal level, but the fact that he still wasn't strong enough to neutralize it.
After flying for so ti, the prairie disappeared, giving way to barren land.
Upon reaching that desolate region, Darian felt the power of the void absurdly chaotic and distorted less than five ters above him. He took a deep breath… the only way he could fly safely there, while being struck by that power, would be by activating his primordial physique.
Not wanting to waste energy, he decided to keep walking. Fortunately, near the ground, it was as if the two poles of energy balanced each other, becoming gentler.
Not long after, Darian stopped.
He spotted several sets of footprints in the distance and rushed over.
For most people, walking inside that place required enormous effort, using all their power. Because of that, there were traces of energy left in those footprints.
Darian narrowed his eyes as he sensed it and quickly beca certain: those were fluctuations from a Nether Beast Bloodline, mixed with another race.
"So the Nether Beasts managed to infiltrate…"
In previous openings of Golden Sky Mountain, all participants were rigorously inspected to prevent mbers of the Nether Beasts from infiltrating. This process took nearly a decade, during which everyone had to pay fees and remain in the city for a long ti. However, the Sacred Treasury must have turned a blind eye this ti, even while sensing the enemy Bloodline within people.
The footprints ca from the sa direction and followed a single path. Darian didn't waste ti and simply followed them.
The ground began to release a foul stench of rotting flesh. Darian focused and realized that the entire terrain had been ford from decomposing corpse remains.
"!"
Suddenly, the ground beneath Darian's feet trembled, and a powerful force erged out of absolute nowhere.
*Rumble!*
Without any warning, the ground under his feet exploded, and the shockwave sent him flying.
"Fuck!"
Darian was hurled into the sky like a falling star, getting hit head-on by the furious void power there while spitting out a mouthful of blood. Everything happened so suddenly that he didn't have ti to react.
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