Darian opened his eyes as the sunlight touched him. The first thing he felt was something sealed inside his body; that was the power his father had left for him to use whenever he wanted to break through to immortality.
Then he looked around and found himself in a simple green valley. Taking a deep breath, he could tell this was just a normal planet. But when he focused on the inhabitants… he almost jumped in surprise.
"Mannaz? No… their bloodline is slightly different, and they all come only from Primordial Dragons."
He didn't know much beyond this universe's past, but his father had said that soon, mortals here would be able to enter that place safely. He obviously needed to figure things out. If possible, he'd do it peacefully—and if not… he didn't mind using force.
Sensing the universe, he noticed there was only Qi. He couldn't feel any other strange power, because everything had been sealed by Niara. In other words, this universe only had basic Qi cultivators—simple and common.
After activating his curse, Darian noticed a dark cluster nearby. Without hesitation, he moved.
In seconds, he saw a mountain. At the top, there was an entrance to a cave. When he sensed inside, he clenched his fists—there were many dead people, and a group covered in dense black karma laughing loudly.
**BOOM!**
With a single punch, the mountain peak exploded violently.
"WHO'S THERE?!"
Several frightened voices echoed. Half a dozen figures emerged, and Darian looked at them coldly.
They were basically half-human—all of them had golden scales, some with wings, others with horns. They were very similar to Mannaz with draconic bloodlines.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?! How dare you attack Prince Wuini!" one of them roared, but Darian didn't respond.
That figure shouted again, "We're from the Golden Scale Kingdom! State your name and surrender yourself! Or—"
"Fuck that." Darian spat, waving his hand.
At that moment, all six widened their eyes as a deadly feeling overwhelmed them.
"NO!"
*BANG!*
With a simple motion, four of them exploded into a mist of blood.
Darian appeared, gripping another one by the neck. He stared at him coldly—this one was the so-called Prince, and he would be useful.
"Y-you! Don't you hear—" the last survivor, the one who had been shouting, stammered, but stopped when Darian turned toward him.
"Go back and tell the people of your Kingdom. I, Darian, will visit soon—and I'll cleanse that place if it's filthy. Acknowledge your sins, because I won't give you another chance."
Darian's words were filled with anger. That was because… inside that Prince's body, he sensed a faint trace of Niara's aura. It was extremely subtle, but it was there—and now he was sure.
Those bastards had received Niara's support and still dared to do evil things; they were tired of living.
After hearing that, the man trembled uncontrollably. But realizing Darian didn't intend to kill him, he turned and shot into the sky like lightning, filled with fear.
Darian snorted and focused, invading the Prince's mind and reading all his memories.
In this universe, everyone knew the story of the past.
Those four Dragons had warred for ages, using mortals however they pleased. Until… the Dragoness Goddess appeared to save them.
She eliminated the tyrants and blessed the population, ending the corrupt power that had infected them. But unfortunately, the entire universe had already been contaminated. So she used the bloodlines of the four dead Dragons and created four great human kingdoms.
Golden Scale Kingdom, White Scale, Black Scale, and Green Scale. Each one received the full bloodline of one of the Dragons. She used humans because, despite being the weakest, they had the best adaptability to those bloodlines.
Because of that, the people of those four kingdoms became the most resilient and were able to survive in the corrupted universe.
After doing all that, the Dragoness Goddess left behind some rules and teachings, building four temples connected to her power within those lands. In the end, she entered the sacred place and was never seen again.
Over thousands of years, the corrupt power in the universe was gradually cleansed. As expected, only the four kingdoms with powerful individuals survived.
Now, all of that had basically disappeared, so only the royal families still possessed those bloodlines, while commoners gradually lost them over generations. Some had become almost completely human.
There were barely any beasts or other races left—everything had been wiped out because of those circumstances. But now that the universe was clean, it had begun to recover naturally, and in the future, things would flourish again.
After reading all that and some current details, Darian clenched his fist. The Prince's body exploded instantly.
'I ended up right in the Golden Scale Kingdom… a place full of bastards. Fine… the sacred world will open in two months. I'll give the other kingdoms a chance. If they're just idiots who wasted Niara's kindness, I'll wipe them all out,' Darian thought coldly—something that would've made his father Alm proud.
Without delay, he turned and shot into the sky, heading toward the nearest kingdom: the White Scale.
***
At present, the universe has only had one galaxy, with 16 planets and four solar systems. Each one had four habitable planets, each ruled by a kingdom. All the other planets and galaxies had been destroyed in the war long ago.
After a few days, Darian reached a very simple solar system and landed on the largest planet without anyone noticing.
He moved calmly toward the central city.
The entrance was heavily guarded, and everyone who entered was inspected. Darian, however, passed through invisibly, without a sound.
With his current power, he could defeat an entire army of immortals born in ordinary universes. He was literally like a god among mortals—free to do whatever he wanted. But technically… he was still a mortal too.
Fortunately, that wouldn't last much longer.
Inside, the city was quite grand. There were only half-humans, with very different levels of bloodline density. Some were completely human, with almost no draconic traits left. Others, likely from the royal family, had bloodlines a thousand times purer than the Mannaz Darian had seen in the other universe.
Darian focused, sensing the royal family members. Their karma was normal, which relieved him.
There were only two of them outside the royal castle, both very young. Their bloodlines stood out clearly, and they were surrounded by several weaker individuals. Because of the draconic bloodline, which made it very hard for them to have children, those two were most likely the prince and princess of the kingdom.
'A man and a woman… which one should I pick…' Darian murmured, planning to approach one of them.
He let out a deep sigh. Did he really have a choice? He had always gotten along better with women. The chances of building a good relationship were always higher with them.
Even in this life, he had grown up constantly surrounded by his mother and Big Sister. His father was always present, but it wasn't the same as with those two. That made him understand and deal with them even better than before.
"Whatever," Darian muttered, moving calmly.
From a distance, he sensed the movements of that young woman without getting too close. She seemed to be wandering around, surrounded by people protecting and pampering her.
Then… Darian noticed a very dark karma inside a building relatively close to that princess.
The opportunity had come.
Without hesitation, Darian walked through the building's entrance.
Shortly after…
**RUMBLE!**
Everyone in the city felt a tremor and heard a loud noise.
That was because an entire building exploded. People rushed over to see what was happening. Then…
They saw, in the middle of the rubble, a young man dressed in red, holding a broken sword and fighting an old man.
That old man radiated a terrifying power, while the young man didn't have any cultivation at all.
*CLANG!*
The two clashed and separated, releasing a sound that seemed to tear through the air.
Suddenly, a sharp voice cut through everything. "Corrupt Villain! How dare you appear in my kingdom!"
While Darian was 'fighting' that old man, a Dragoness appeared in the air.
Darian glanced at her slightly. Her clothes… barely existed. She was really only wearing a short white skirt, while the most important parts were covered only by white scales.
She had bright golden eyes, with dark, radiant skin that contrasted sharply with her long white hair. She had a pair of wings, with scales covering her chest, forming a beautiful neckline, along with parts of her legs and arms. Across her body were elegant golden ornaments matching her eyes, and at the center of her chest was a blue gem emitting a striking glow.
She was, without a doubt, an extremely beautiful woman—but her lips were slightly curved upward. At first glance, she looked like a powerful and determined Dragoness.
On top of that, she carried a natural air of nobility and arrogance. A simple yet multicolored sword rested at her waist.
Darian immediately shouted, "Little sister, please help me! I worked so hard for the Kingdom to find this corrupt stronghold! You should know that to find it, I've been tracking them with everything I had for over thirty years, and all my hard work finally paid off today! Little sister, hurry and capture this shameless bandit!"
Inside that building, underground, there was a hidden place that Darian had learned a bit about from the prince's memories earlier. It was like the underworld back on Earth, where many forbidden things existed right under the royal family's nose.
The White Scale Kingdom had been fighting with all its strength to destroy that underworld, but they had never succeeded… the reason was obvious—the Golden Scale Kingdom had been backing it from the shadows.
"Who are you calling little sister? I am the princess of the White Scale Kingdom, Lanaya Silverwing!" she frowned, clearly irritated.
"That doesn't matter. Princess little sister, stop him quickly! I can't hold on much longer! Is the great Kingdom really willing to watch someone who made great contributions to the nation die at the hands of these people? My death doesn't matter, but what about the justice of the great Kingdom? Wouldn't my death become a stain on its honor that could never be erased?" Darian shouted while casually dodging the old man's attacks.
From afar, people felt something was off. He looked like he was playing with his opponent, without any aura of someone in danger. But… the princess didn't seem to notice that.
"You! Fine, I'll deal with him first before punishing your rudeness." The princess snorted, releasing a powerful draconic aura.
A massive pressure suddenly descended, making countless cultivators who were approaching feel suppressed.
"Face your death!" Lanaya suddenly drew her sword. A dazzling beam of light shot straight at the old man.
*BOOM!*
The old man had no choice but to stop attacking Darian. Blocking in a hurry, he was slammed into a large wall of another building, bounced off it, and coughed up blood.
"Damn, what incredible power!" People were shocked and excited to see the princess fight.
"Damn it! All of you can die!" the old man roared, his body getting covered in a bloody aura.
"He's blowing himself up!" shocked screams echoed around.
Since he couldn't even think about escaping, he chose to create a massive wave of destruction—he'd likely kill many and cause huge damage to the city.
That would take some time. Before he could finish, the princess attacked swiftly.
*Clang!*
The old man's weapon struck Lanaya's sword, causing a massive explosion. Both of them were forced back. That exchange ended in a draw.
Running wasn't an option for the spectators—if they fled, the Kingdom would implicate them, and they could even be killed afterward. Now, all they could do was hope for her victory. If necessary, they would have to use everything they had to stop him.
At that moment, among the gathered crowd, many young people looked at the princess with admiration.
Seeing that, Darian let his more lively and youthful side take over. Maybe it was because he was close to Niara, and only a few days away from seeing her again. He felt much lighter and more excited.
"The princess is powerful! Raise the prestige of the White Scale Kingdom, light up the skies, kill the corrupt old man!" Darian shouted loudly, already a bit away from the fight.
"Hey, how can you just stand there doing nothing? Don't you know how to cooperate? The princess is fighting with everything she's got, and you, citizens of the Kingdom, don't even dare cheer for her? What are you afraid of? Being embarrassed? Losing face? If you're afraid of everything, why bother cultivating at all? If you're that cowardly, how can you even call yourselves young? Where's your youthful spirit, your drive? If you admire her, shout it out loud! If you worship her, shout even louder! I want to hear your voices!"
"Everyone together: The princess is powerful! Raise the prestige of the Kingdom, light up the skies, kill the corrupt old man!" Darian shouted.
"The princess is powerful! Raise the prestige of the Kingdom, light up the skies, kill the corrupt old man!" the crowd echoed, over and over, nonstop.
The first time, a few hundred people joined in. The second time, it was thousands—and by the third, every remotely young person was shouting at the top of their lungs.
They suddenly realized that cheering together like this gave them an indescribable thrill.
The young people admired the princess, but before, they didn't dare say anything, afraid of being mocked or ridiculed. But under the lead of one shameless guy, their throats opened up as they shouted. No one laughed at anyone. Instead, they felt that the more they shouted, the more spirited they became.
The chants kept getting louder until they almost drowned out the sounds of the battle.
Countless people were drawn in from far away. That excitement spread everywhere.
Even the princess hadn't expected she could rally supporters like this. The countless roars made even her blood heat up a little.
Princess Lanaya attacked with everything she had, but the old man was truly strong and was slowly condensing all his power to explode. She was being forced back little by little.
'Hey, are you just gonna keep shouting? Hurry up and help!'
While Darian watched the scene, he suddenly received a mental message from the princess.
'Me? But I can't beat him! I'm cheering for you with all I've got!' Darian replied immediately.
'Doesn't matter, only you can help me. If they interfere, what happens to my image? Hurry. I need you to distract him for a bit. He's not letting me make any risky moves,' Lanaya said in a tense tone.
'I won't be able to stall him for long. Let me tell you this—if you let me die, that'll become a permanent stain on your image and on the Kingdom's reputation,' Darian warned.
'Stop wasting time, damn it! I just need you to distract him for a few moments. And you're not allowed to tell anyone I asked for help,' she snapped back.
Darian almost laughed. Why did it feel like all the credit would go to her if they won, while he'd just be forced to keep her secret? It was ridiculous—but he didn't sense any malice from her. She was just naive, spoiled, and clueless.
'Fine, I'll keep it secret,' Darian said calmly, then took a few light steps forward.
At that moment, the heavens and earth trembled, and all the Qi in a vast area began to stir. Everyone, without exception, felt a heavy pressure fall onto their shoulders, making their eyes widen.
