Suddenly, Darian felt a wave of energy approaching. In two seconds, two silhouettes with a golden glow entered the underground cave.
There were two n. One of them looked younger than Darian, with a plain face but a firm expression. He wore red clothes with a golden crow crest on his chest.
Beside him stood a middle-aged man with long hair tied back. He wore red and gold robes with the sa crest on his chest. But… the skin and face of that man were dry and sowhat wrinkled. That was strange, because Darian could feel he wasn't actually that old.
"You!" the young man exclaid energetically. "Where are the cultivators of the Evil Path?!"
Darian looked back and rembered the end of that old idiot. To him, it felt like hundreds of years had already passed since those events.
"Speak imdiately! We're from the Golden Crow Sect!" the young man roared.
Darian snorted. He had heard that na before. They were responsible for protecting this planet from the Mortal Plane. But those idiots were incompetent to the extre.
"Their leader is already dead. As for the others, I believe I killed two-thirds of them when I invaded. Maybe a few weaker ones managed to escape."
The young man's eyes changed. "What? How is that possible!"
Obviously, the two had been called by the planet's guards and ca as fast as they could. They heard that the leader of the Evil Path cultivators was at the ninth level of the Celestial Nascent Realm. And Darian, who was at the fifth level, killed him? It was ridiculous even to imagine.
Darian didn't bother answering. He turned, his eyes eting the lifeless body of that woman on the ground. He crouched down gently and waved his hand.
"!"
At that mont, the two behind him were shocked. They felt an indescribable force arise out of nowhere and split the earth open in front of Darian.
They watched as Darian moved the lifeless body into a small hole. On his face and in his eyes, there was clear sorrow. That figure could no longer be saved, but he owed her a lot because she had been the trigger for his awakening.
After creating a small grave, he waved again, closing the soil.
Once he finished, Darian lifted his gaze toward the depths of the cave. He thought about moving forward, because he knew what was there. But his mother hadn't told him to take it for himself, and she even said those two people were an opportunity.
Darian turned and faced them. "You ca to investigate, right? From what I saw, there's sothing back there. I think the Evil Path cultivators were feeding it with the lives of so people… but I'm not sure."
Under his gaze, the two fell into thought.
The young man was about to say sothing, but the older man raised his hand, signaling him to stay silent.
Looking Darian in the eyes, he asked in a gentle tone, "Young man, may I know your na?"
"Darian."
"My na is Chrysos. I'm the master of the 14th palace of the Golden Crow Sect," the middle-aged man's voice sounded calm, without any arrogance. "This is my disciple, Pyreus. May I know where you ca from?"
Darian looked him in the eyes, a little surprised. The large sects in this universe, since they had to protect countless planets, had several internal divisions. Each one was commanded by soone extrely important. A palace master, like the others, was second only to the sect leader in terms of power.
That figure being there… ant he was directly responsible for this planet. Why the hell did he co personally? That was very strange. And worse… why the hell did he seem so weak? Darian felt he was far weaker than a Spiritual Sovereign.
"I'm just soone born on this planet. I lived with my parents in an isolated forest, but the Evil Path cultivators attacked us, and they died to let live. I started cultivating after that and studied them for a long ti, until the mont I risked everything to get my revenge."
His voice sounded light and steady. The two stared at him closely, sensing his fluctuations in detail. Surprisingly, both of them were shocked to feel that he was telling the truth.
anwhile, Darian activated a bit of his Celestial bloodline to suppress his fluctuations. His older sister had taught him many thods to use this power of his new body, and even though it was 99.99% sealed, the little that remained was still terrifying.
He was no longer a missionary, but now he could seal and hide everything using that.
"Excellent." The middle-aged man nad Chrysos nodded, sowhat excited and suspicious.
He had also heard from the guards that Darian was an unparalleled genius and managed to fight against that much more powerful cultivator. If he was truly just a peasant from the Mortal Plane, that was a huge find.
Chrysos slowly moved forward, passing by Darian, who remained still, and walked toward the depths of the cave. That was where the blood pool from before was, and where that old man had run to grab sothing, hoping to save himself from Darian.
When he arrived, Chrysos waved his hand…
Then, when he saw what was hidden there, his eyes widened, and every hair on his body stood on end.
"What?" Pyreus felt it and ran toward his master, curious.
But the man roared dryly, "STAY THERE!"
Pyreus stopped abruptly, startled.
Suddenly, Chrysos took a deep breath and waved his hand. A wave of Celestial power surged out, lighting up the cave.
Darian's eyes widened… that contained all of that man's soul and life force together.
Chrysos focused everything on a single point. Then—
*Wooooooosh!*
A wave of draconic power erupted like a volcano.
Pyreus stumbled backward, his face pale. Darian, on the other hand, remained indifferent because he knew very well what that was.
In the past, his mother received her Draconic bloodline from the Yin Chaos Dragon, who was Niara's master. Then she left, in several places, a scale containing her power and inheritance, so that destined people could absorb it.
Most likely, by chance, the Evil Path cultivators discovered it there but couldn't remove it. So they created a malicious refining inscription, where they kidnapped people with a thin Dragon bloodline and sacrificed them there. With that, the scale would gradually weaken until they could finally take it out.
The woman who died earlier was a half-human with Wyvern blood mixed in; that's why she was killed inside that place.
Suddenly, all the draconic power was forcefully sealed by Chrysos' power.
He moved the scale and stored it away.
Obviously, you couldn't dominate a dragon's scales and obtain its inheritance through brute force. But this man truly seed to be a powerful cultivator and did sothing shocking, sacrificing his own life to seal the scale and move it elsewhere.
Most likely, he knew that if he left it there, soone would steal it. And obviously… it would be soone from his own sect.
Right after the power faded—
*Cough, cough*
The middle-aged man dropped to his knees and began coughing up a lot, a lot of blood.
"MASTER!"
Pyreus ran over, horrified.
Darian simply watched, curious and analyzing the situation.
When Pyreus got close and knelt down, Chrysos extended his hand toward him, a ring inside it. His face was completely twisted in pain and… purple lines covered his entire body.
He coughed up even more blood; the blood also contained purple runes. That was poison, a terribly powerful poison. Even Darian, sensing it, was surprised; he had never seen sothing so intense.
Chrysos' lips moved. "Boy… take this… to my brother…"
"Master! Hold on, I'll take you ho!" Pyreus was completely desperate.
Darian sighed. Apparently, this middle-aged man truly was soone worthy of being a palace master, but he had been gravely poisoned.
The struggle for power in places like that was very predictable. You didn't have to be a genius to understand there were countless figures who wanted his position in the sect.
Since Chrysos was dood, and probably had been for so ti, no high-level figure wanted to join him. The powerful ones must have intimidated anyone who tried to leave him isolated and with nothing; that way, he would die faster.
That was why he personally ca to the planet when he heard about the issue. And now, after discovering that terrifying scale… if he returned to the sect and spoke about it, there would be a huge commotion and, in the end, soone he hated would take it.
"I don't have ti…" Chrysos muttered in a failing, very weak voice. "I used everything I had… I wouldn't have lasted five more years anyway, but now… I can die satisfied for helping you…"
"NO! Master, please!" Pyreus was in tears. He couldn't have been more than 13 years old, and he saw that man as an extrely important father figure.
Chrysos smiled faintly, but placed the ring in the young man's hand. With a deep exhale, he relaxed, and the purple lines across his body spread even more. He was on his last breaths, and there was no regret—only… frustration.
Until—
Light footsteps echoed as soone approached.
Chrysos turned his gaze and saw Darian looking at him calmly.
When Darian stopped nearby, he asked evenly, "Sir, if I cure you, you'll be in my debt, correct?"
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