CHAPTER 498: IMPORTANT DISCOVERY (2)

The six Heavenly Elemental Spirits led the group toward a region near the center of that small world. There, they found a small town with simple houses made from the earth element.

Darian had already sensed the town’s presence long before, but since he didn’t know what the situation was, it was faster and safer to be guided by the locals — that way, he could get the answers he wanted.

As they approached the entrance, hundreds of White-Blooded figures ran toward the group with serious looks. They were probably the only outsiders in that place. Their expressions showed deep concern.

Darian stared at them firmly, examining each one’s karma. It was normal, nothing remarkable — a clear sign that they truly hadn’t been corrupted by the promises of the Celestial Shadow or the Risen Lords.

The oldest of the Heavenly Elemental Spirits who accompanied them raised his voice and declared:

"I’ve brought the missionary from the legends. The six of us are sure of it, and the others of our race can confirm it too. Please, gather everyone. The time has finally come."

When they heard that, the White-Blooded widened their eyes, staring at the four outsiders in complete shock.

"Sir, all the records left behind are in the central house," said that same figure, turning respectfully to Darian.

He nodded, and they all went deeper into the city, heading for the largest house. Inside, they saw countless stone plaques covered in ancient inscriptions.

"These are old records, brought here by the White-Blooded who left the corrupted part of the race behind. But we’ve already gathered and transcribed everything into Jade Slips," explained the one who guided them, pointing to a room where hundreds of Jade Slips were stored.

Darian turned to Awel and Lucy, who already knew what they needed to do. Both left the house — they would talk with the people and assess the situation more closely.

Niara, however, stayed with Darian. When he focused on readings like that, he entered a state close to deep meditation, where he became vulnerable to hidden attacks. In that unknown place full of mysteries, she would focus entirely on protecting him.

Darian entered the room quickly. He went straight for the oldest records first, reading about the Blood Race.

In a very distant past, that race had existed in the Divine Protection Universe as natives, but they were extremely rare and few in number. There wasn’t a single individual with Golden Blood, and extinction was inevitable.

When the war against the Celestial Shadow began, that already weak and almost vanished race wouldn’t have survived another century.

That’s when Enfield gathered the largest remaining group of that race and offered them a safe place to thrive.

It was meant to be a fair exchange. He planned to create a great array to train those who carried his bloodline. In return, the race only needed to sacrifice those with Black Blood, who had chosen the evil path. No one was born with Black Blood — it was a personal choice, so no one could blame anyone else.

Time passed, and the race truly flourished within Enfield’s Sacred Tree. It was a safe haven far from the Risen, filled with countless resources.

The Golden-Blooded were a variation of the race born after many generations of White-Blooded reached an extremely high level of power and had children. Even they began to appear again in large numbers. But the galaxy where the Array was left eventually fell to the Risen.

Over time, the traitorous Spiritual Guardians began to visit them, planting seeds of greed and corruption in the hearts of certain White-Blooded figures.

Slowly, they spread lies among the race, saying that the Blood Race had once been glorious — one of the greatest powers in the universe — and that now they were trapped inside that Array by the academies, used as training tools. The Celestial Shadow then offered them freedom and power in exchange for their service.

Bit by bit, they started destroying all records of the original agreement; and with many repeating the same lies, a new "truth" was born among them. But a few within the race understood what was happening. Those few saved what knowledge remained and fled.

This had been happening for hundreds of thousands of years. But a thousand years ago, things got much worse — chaos multiplied a thousandfold, and 99% of the race ended up joining the Celestial Shadow.

That was when Darian reached the part that interested him the most. A thousand years ago, the spark that started it all had been himself, when he destroyed the plans for the Celestial Shadow’s full resurrection during the invasion of the Divine Dragon Academy.

After that, the enemies turned their attention to Enfield’s Sacred Tree. And from the records, Darian was sure the corrupted Enfield had managed to manipulate part of it.

Apparently, he couldn’t directly enter any worlds, but he moved pieces and altered things somehow. Around that same time, Enfield found a small spatial rift created by the fleeing White-Blooded.

For some reason, he used his corrupted power to stabilize and expand that rift. At first, the whole place was filled with Miasma, making life there impossible.

There were White-Blooded living in that small, unstable space before. But luckily, thanks to their power to manipulate space-time, they could keep the corruption away from their bodies and even move in and out of that place. Of course, that consumed a lot of power and didn’t last long, so living there was unviable.

But before they left, Enfield calmly told them:

"Gather all the Heavenly Elemental Spirits from the Trunk World and bring them here. Tell them to join in groups and *pray to Heaven’s Will*."

Those were vague words, with no clear details or explanations.

But according to the descriptions left from that time, that figure was shrouded in darkness, radiating terrifying corruption — it was obvious he was hiding his true intentions, trying to act without breaking the commands and rules that bound him.

Darian knew that because of Howlyn. She had told him everything she did during her time as a Risen Lord — there were certain things she couldn’t say or do, or the Celestial Shadow would immediately notice. Still, there was always a narrow margin she tried to exploit.

Enfield’s actions seemed similar to Howlyn’s — apparently meaningless, but eventually unfolding into something that went against the Celestial Shadow.

That happened because the Celestial Shadow was injured and couldn’t completely control his servants. He just imposed restrictions and gave orders, but they weren’t 100% enslaved.

Enfield had simply ordered them to gather that race and make them pray to Heaven’s Will. Something so vague didn’t give any hint that it could escalate into anything harmful to the Celestial Shadow.

But those with White Blood who fled knew the truth and respected Enfield. They did exactly as he said, and when they gathered a group of dozens of Heavenly Elemental Spirits in that place, something incredible happened.

They were slowly corrupted by the Miasma — but never completely.

After some time, in a nearly miraculous way, the corruption within them — and within a small area around them — was completely purified.

That amazed everyone, because that small world became a perfect, hidden home for them. So, they started gathering all the Heavenly Elemental Spirits they could, testing to find the minimum number needed until they discovered that six were enough.

In less than a century, there was already a small inner region completely free from corruption. Over time, that area kept expanding until the present day — now, only a dark curtain separated it from a vast purified region.

As for the missionary, information about him had been recorded by the Blood Race since the very beginning of the array’s creation. When Enfield was still alive, he had said: either the Spiritual Guardians would win that war through their own efforts, or... a missionary of Heaven’s Will would be sent.

Putting together the words Enfield spoke while alive with his strange actions after being corrupted, everything started to make sense. He had done all of that to pave the way for the arrival of the Missionary, knowing the end was near.

No one could be completely sure, but when those six Heavenly Elemental Spirits saw Darian, they were fully convinced of who he was — and that Enfield had really created that place because of him.

Back to reality, Darian finished reading everything in three hours.

When he turned around, he saw Niara waiting beside Lucy and Awel.

"Found anything?" he asked calmly.

"I know how my brothers do that. It’s amazing!" Awel said, her eyes shining. "They just use the connection we all share to boost their power and link up with the world’s Laws — kinda like how a Primordial Beast or the spiritual root of the Spiritual Guardians does."

Awel was smart, and Darian had already taught her everything about those things — and much more.

"I tested it, Master. That connection with the world’s Laws is what everyone calls ’praying to Heaven’s Will.’ It gives us strength we didn’t even know we had. Together, they can wipe out any evil power." Awel finished.

Darian took a deep breath. Ordinary people wouldn’t understand it, but thanks to that book, he knew exactly how the world worked.

The world’s Laws had immense internal power — an energy capable of shaping reality. They also had a certain level of consciousness; something like an artificial intelligence that observed everything and everyone, recording every possible detail.

Every living being that ever existed or still exists was monitored by the world’s Laws. Because of that, this "intelligence" had an unmeasurable database and could predict future outcomes with high accuracy — almost like foreseeing the future, though there was always a small chance something wouldn’t go as expected.

Whenever something deviated too much from the rules, Heaven’s Will would be alerted and act to correct it — or not — depending on karma and the Laws themselves. However, Primordial Beasts, Spiritual Guardians, and even races like the Heavenly Elemental Spirits could access a fraction of that power from the world’s Laws.

That’s what created blessings capable of distorting reality, for example. But there were limits — otherwise, everything would collapse into chaos. The more abnormal and powerful a blessing was, the stricter the restrictions on its use.

In the case of the Primordial Beasts, they were born within universes and used that unique power to help the universe itself — creating galaxies, planets, life, and more. Above all, they brought order to the forces within universes. Without them, everything would be unstable chaos, and weaker races could never exist.

The Heavenly Elemental Spirits, on the other hand, were a peculiar kind of life — born from elements and the power of the universe, but without fully understanding that force, how to use it, or even realizing they had it.

But Enfield knew.

The power of that race was weak individually, and that’s why he ordered them to unite in groups and connect. By "praying," asking for help, they could awaken that hidden strength and use it to cleanse the evil near them.

"Enfield... he really did all this in secret to show me this possibility..." Darian muttered, half surprised, half excited. "If I gather an army of Heavenly Elemental Spirits and train them to use it properly... a lot of doors are gonna open."

Darian still didn’t have enough strength with his white power, though he was far stronger than before. However, the power of that race — even without training, knowledge, or a clear purpose — was enough to easily purify the miasma of a Corrupted Primordial Beast. With their help, Darian had just gained massive potential.