The area inside the Golden Crow Sect was extrely vast, looking limitless at first glance; the space inside was distorted and expanded, becoming far larger than it should be.
All the Palaces were spread throughout the region and rose imposingly, each one different from the others. The atmosphere was silent, but the environnt was scorching. No mortal could live there, but for a fire-elent cultivator, that place was paradise. Just breathing made that elent flood into the body.
The 14th Palace was located in the heart of the sect’s southern district. Although it was a palace, inside it was as large as a city because of spatial dilation.
As soon as he entered, Darian felt a strange silence and pressure there.
"You’ll live here from now on," Chrysos said to Darian. "The Palace is fifty kiloters wide and about fifteen kiloters tall, but the internal space is much larger than what you see here."
"Since you’re now also a disciple of the Golden Crow Hall, you can travel freely through the sect and the main planet. You can also use any available teleportation inscription. However, the Sect’s Palaces are relatively independent from one another, so unless you’ve obtained permission, you won’t be able to enter them at will."
Darian murmured lightly, "Why is it so quiet here? Where are the other disciples?"
"There were only the Master and here." Pyreus curled his lips. "The other Palaces have around three thousand disciples, two Vice Palace Masters, and a dozen instructors. But I don’t envy them at all. Because this is a safe place, and the Master is soone wise."
Darian nodded. Chrysos seed like the opposite of what a fla cultivator should be. He wasn’t explosive or hot-tempered; in fact, he was very calm and reflective. For soone so important... that could be a serious problem.
"Pyreus was the only disciple of my Palace for a thousand years. You’re the second," Chrysos sighed softly. "With my body affected by poison, my health slowly deteriorated over the thousand years. I lived each day knowing I could lose my life, so I simply didn’t have the strength to maintain a Palace as I should; even taking care of the planets in the Mortal Plane was difficult. However, the Sect Leader was unwilling to let lose my status as Palace Master and stubbornly helped maintain my position."
Darian nodded, then asked, "Sir Chrysos, now that you’re free from the poison, your strength and cultivation will fully return soon. At that point, do you intend to accept new disciples?"
Chrysos could fool those three idiots from before and intimidate them, but not Darian. He felt that this figure’s strength seed restored and complete on the surface, but it was a shallow lake. If he truly had to fight, everyone would quickly realize his power was unstable and fragile.
"At the mont, I don’t have that kind of plan. My temperant beca calr after all these years, and I got used to the quiet. Let’s see in a few years," Chrysos shook his head. "As for my power... it should take at least 400 years for to recover 100% naturally. But my brother seems determined to find a Treasure Pill with 12 circles to resolve this quickly."
"Oh? What kind of Pill do you need?" Darian asked.
"A simple energy stabilization pill, sothing any novice alchemist can make, would solve it. But... its level must be the highest possible. A Treasure Pill with 12 circles appears only once every two hundred years and is sold at extrely expensive auctions. Finding one, and it being exactly what I need, is harder than ascending to the heavens. Anyway... I don’t have much hope; another 400 years isn’t a big deal."
Darian nodded lightly in understanding.
As they walked, Chrysos continued, "You obtained a Fire Soul Pill and a Stargazer Stone. I can help you with the Fire Soul Pill; that way, you’ll absorb the minimum possible impurities from it and can cultivate up to the 8th level of the Celestial Nascent Realm in just a few weeks. But its main benefit is that your body will gain an incredibly greater affinity with the fire elent. After absorbing it, you’ll be guaranteed to reach the Celestial Soul Realm within a few centuries. As for the Stargazer Stone, you won’t be able to absorb it before the Celestial Tribulation Realm, so don’t even try. But in the future, that stone will greatly expand your prospects."
Darian heard that without reacting. The Celestial Soul Realm was the third cultivation realm, while the Celestial Tribulation Realm was the fourth.
Taking centuries just to reach the Celestial Soul Realm? He intended to reach immortality, crossing all seven realms in less than half a century.
"Thanks, but I have other plans for those things," Darian replied softly.
Pyreus’s eyes widened in disbelief. With the help of a Palace Master, Darian could benefit from those things to the fullest. What kind of plans could possibly be better than that?
On the other hand, Chrysos said nothing, only nodded.
He had accepted Darian as a disciple, but he was certain it would be only in na, because he felt Darian wasn’t soone who needed help from others. It was a strange and unique feeling, since Darian was only a sixteen-year-old youth. But... sothing told him Darian would give him many surprises if he simply didn’t interfere.
"There are so common buildings in the center of the sect. In the Sacred Scriptures Building, you can choose from various fire-related techniques to learn, though I suppose you’re not interested in them. In the Sacred Artifacts Building, you can choose whatever weapon you want, and in the Sacred Jade Building, you can obtain your quota of five thousand indigo stones and natural resources every month."
"Indigo stones? What are those?" Darian asked.
"Natural stones that contain Celestial power," Chrysos explained. "Based on their power level and purity, they’re classified as indigo stones, indigo crystals, and indigo jade, from lowest to highest. Absorbing the power of these stones can assist your cultivation. However, due to their low level, they aren’t capable of helping you achieve a significant breakthrough. They’re mainly used to create inscriptions, talismans, and so on. At the sa ti, they’re also the currency used in the Celestial Plane."
Pyreus added, "Indigo stones weigh fifty grams each. A thousand indigo stones can be exchanged for one indigo crystal. A thousand indigo crystals can be converted into one indigo jade."
In short, Darian received a good amount of money and resources from the sect monthly, but it was obvious that was nowhere near enough for his ambitions. He had to obtain as much as possible in the future, since he could use it for cultivation as well.
They finally reached the center of the palace’s inner region, where there was a colossal red building piercing the heavens, with hundreds of floors.
After entering, Chrysos spoke calmly. "Choose a room of your preference. If you need anything, you can send a ssage to Pyreus or to ."
"Okay." Darian nodded and moved toward the first empty room he saw.
...
The room was imnse, the size of an entire house. Everything seed made of a very beautiful and bright reddish crystal, even the inner sections.
Darian walked to the back, where there was a bed. He lay down gently. Then he looked at the ceiling.
"..."
There, he saw his own reflection.
It was the first ti he had seen himself since recovering his mories.
Darian was now very different from his forr self. His hair was black and long like his mother’s, carefully tied by her before he left ho. His eyes were light brown, inherited from his father, just like his older sister’s.
His physique was very well developed without being overly muscular. He was only 16 years old, yet he was already nearly 1.80 ters tall. Considering the terrifying size of his father and that his older sister was also nearly two ters tall, he would still grow quite a bit.
He had eyebrows sharp as swords and eyes bright as stars. His appearance was radiant and healthy, and his face was extrely handso and pleasing to the eye. The most important thing was his natural aura. His indifferent expression, combined with insight tempered by countless hardships, produced an unusual charm, even on his youthful face.
In Darian’s mind, he rembered Niara, Lucy, Lucius, Alear... all of them must have been devastated beyond asure by his death.
"I hope you can forgive ... I’ll be back soon."
It had been five thousand years since his death. The reason it had taken so long for him to be born, he knew very well. It was absurdly difficult for his mother to beco pregnant.
His father could have used his Heaven’s Will power to force it to happen, but using that power without a legitimate reason could create unexpected problems. As for his mother... she truly preferred to let it happen the conventional way.
Since all of Darian’s relatives were immortal and well, there was no reason to rush so much. In fact, five thousand years was actually a very short ti.
Darian stayed there for a few minutes, relaxing just a little and stabilizing his mind.
He thought back to the ti when he went through his awakening, and Rhea found him.
Back then, she said Darian’s life would turn into an unmatched hell. But... she had no idea just how chaotic and turbulent his life would truly beco.
He went through a lot, a whole lot. Being thrown from one side to another, trying to survive and grow stronger. In the end... he won, but died...
"Well, nothing ever ca easy. I always achieved sothing while suffering so losses and problems along the way. Now, I’ve been given the chance to finally put an end to everything," he murmured seriously.
His potential now was at an incomparable level. After becoming an immortal, he could still break through even beyond that. After that, no one would ever push him into despair again.
After a few minutes, he sat up.
After taking a deep breath, he took the Fire Soul Pill out of his spatial ring.
This was a Treasure Pill with only four circles, sothing that to him was low level, since Veyle could easily make twelve-circle pills in the past.
Darian grew up on that planet with his new family. But he also had the company of many other figures, like his uncle Almin, who was an unparalleled alchemist. With him, Darian learned a bit of alchemy because even without mories, he was very curious.
Because of that, Darian was confident he could use this pill correctly, understanding how to remove impurities and deal with them. On top of that, he had mastery over all energies coming from his curse.
Without hesitation, he tossed the pill into his mouth and swallowed it imdiately.
*Woooosh*
In an instant, Darian’s body was covered by an intense scarlet fla. The sound of an extrely muffled buzz echoed in his brain, and his whole body began to burn.
It was as if a volcano sealed for ten million years had co back to life inside his body. The terrifying power exceeded Darian’s expectations once again.
Everything in this universe was at a calamity level. He could never forget that detail.
Even a pill made for young cultivators was beyond everything that existed in other universes.
Darian got off the bed and instantly knelt on the floor. He didn’t fear any type of elental power, but this was frightening because it had a large amount of Celestial power mixed in.
Darian gritted his teeth. He activated his domain... only to discover that...
His domain, which in his previous life could always forcibly control everything, actually couldn’t completely dominate Celestial power.
It was even possible, if it were just a little, but it would be very slow and complex. In other words, as expected, he couldn’t simply do the sa as with Qi and force everything in the environnt to move into his body and cultivate at the speed of light.
A layer of red light moved like a violent fla around Darian’s body.
It wasn’t just on the surface of his body. Every drop of blood, every ridian, and every cell in his body was being flooded, infiltrated, and wrapped by that power.
Any ordinary person at his power level wouldn’t be able to withstand such excessively violent dicinal power.
However, Darian actually didn’t try to redirect or force the dicinal force out of his body. Instead, he used all his focus and control to slowly gather it completely, drawing it into his veins and ridians. What he wanted wasn’t just to endure it, but to absorb it as much as possible and refine it.
At the sa ti, he was also removing the impurities little by little.
Even if the Palace Master had helped him, it would be impossible to remove all the impurities. Because of that, to avoid harming his body and future, more than 40% of the pill’s power would have to be discarded. The remaining 60% would still have many impurities mixed with the power, and in truth, he would only absorb half of everything in total, being forced to discard the rest over ti.
In other words, it was an unparalleled waste.
But Darian, obviously, wasn’t going to waste anything.
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