Almost a month passed with the whale floating through the eternal void. All the millions of spiritual crystals they had stored in the inventory were continuously burned, as if they were firewood to keep them alive.
Bruno was already getting extremely worried because, for him, everything was emptiness, and he couldn’t feel much. Alm, on the other hand, seemed focused on something silently; after a few hours, he spoke.
’I sense small spatial fluctuations in various different locations. Definitely divine vessels, countless of them.’
Bruno was intrigued. Divine vessels are something similar to a spaceship, with a spatial formation capable of piercing space at the cost of a large amount of resources. This is the means of transportation used in the divine world to cross the gigantic distances of the universe more quickly. Having this in the underworld was not surprising, as there were races there, so there would be powerful individuals who could use it.
’Are they going somewhere?’ Bruno asked, but he answered himself immediately. ’They are going to the same place we are... well, we are being led by the Heaven’s Will to something again.’
Alm didn’t retort, as he was tired of knowing that everything that appeared in their path seemed to be premeditated. They could have gone to any point in the underworld, but the nearest planet was precisely where they should go.
A week passed, and Bruno counted the few hundred crystals that remained... until the whale’s eyes finally glimpsed something in the distance. At that moment, Bruno was surprised by the sight.
It was a colossal rocky and black planet. Its size was similar to that of a sun, so large that, even knowing everything from another universe, they had never seen such a large planet before.
’There is no Yang here, and there are no solar systems. All the rocks are grouping indefinitely through space and forming strange things only with Yin. The planets here just wander aimlessly, and there must be a gigantic spacing between one and another.’ Alm commented dryly. ’They should be just a ball of rock and ice, but thanks to the QI, the laws of the earth on the planet end up igniting, generating a peculiar balance. Plant-like life forms must be the most common to be born on these planets. And with cultivation and available QI, anything is possible.’
They approached slowly, and the shocking dimension of the planet covered their horizon. That’s when Bruno jumped.
’I sense Yang in this place! There must be life forms coming from outside the underworld!’
Alm nodded, seeming to understand. If they could come here, and the cerberi, which were not such a rare race, could open a portal, certainly, in other universes, cultivators devised ways to arrive.
’It’s very faint, and it seems to mix with the Yang in great imbalance... this seems to be hybrids.’ Bruno analyzed, then connected the dots. ’It makes sense; the natural life forms here have a pure Yin body, just like the rare disease that arises among the races. If they cross with those coming from other universes, the hybridization must have a better balance and manage to live and cultivate. Life must have Yin and Yang together to flow naturally; all the natives must have a low life expectancy and hardly reach high realms. Therefore, to protect their races with capable cultivators, they create hybrids without hesitation.’
Alm and Bruno looked closely at the planet using their souls, feeling everything they could from its reflected QI until the whale’s brows furrowed. It was no surprise to them; they instinctively felt something related to the queen coming from there.
They both just sighed, being a few meters away from entering the zone where they would be effortlessly pulled by the planet’s gravity. It was at this moment that Alm turned with the whale sensing something emerging.
"Get away!"
Suddenly, a demonic and red being came towards the whale on an ancient vessel. He was like an incredibly fast meteor.
This was a powerful demon cultivator with a very potent bloodline. His cultivation was at the ninth level of the Heaven Stage Realm, and it seemed like he could break through whenever he wanted. The space in front of him was constantly compressed and exploding with his pressure.
The whale closed its eyes. Although the demon shouted for them to get out of the way, he didn’t give them time to do so. Moreover, he was ramming the carriage directly towards them, clearly with the intention of killing the two.
"Come then," the whale spoke lightly, and Fides appeared in its hand. The sword fell, and the demon’s eyes widened. They would not show mercy to those who tried to kill them without reason.
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BOOM!
The demon deliberately collided head-on with the heavy sword at full speed... the whale received the impact but suffered no injuries. As for the vessel and the demon; there wasn’t much left to tell the tale. Only a bloody mist mixed with the void.
The whale seized the momentum to quickly enter the planet. Now Alm noticed around them, hundreds of vessels entering along with them. Using his divine soul, he felt their cultivation more clearly. All of them were strangely at the ninth level of the Heaven Stage Realm.
In a few minutes, the whale focused and, using its extremely dense spiritual root created in a celestial annihilation, gently slowed down. All common cultivators needed to use the vessel to perform such a feat.
They were several meters in the air and observed the dark world below. The entire place was practically rocky, with few spots of water. And the entire surface was covered with incredibly tall trees.
These trees were so tall that divine vessels couldn’t fly above them. The dense Yin flow emanating from them would cause a massive impact, significantly reducing their speed and potentially causing the simpler ones to fall and explode. Everyone arriving exited and descended slowly.
The trees were eerie, emitting a sensation akin to Demon Beasts baring their teeth. The darkness ahead of them was infinite. Any light was completely blocked by the leaves. This was a world of darkness, of deadly silence.
Although these tree demons were of a lower level, they definitely had some intelligence. These must be the natural life forms of this planet, cultivating slowly, waiting for prey to approach.
They continued descending and lightly activated their auras; the trees sensed the mortal danger and didn’t attempt anything. Thus, they passed through and reached the ground. Soon, they found themselves on a terrain that had been ravaged, and the scars of battle were still present. A dense smell of blood hung in the air.
As they advanced, they realized it wasn’t a specific location. The entire ground beneath them was stained red with blood, and enormous skeletons of various sizes were scattered everywhere. Their flesh had already disappeared, but their skeletons still emitted fierce auras. The ground was covered with white bones.
’Did we end up in hell?’ Bruno couldn’t help but murmur as he looked at the white bones covering the blood-stained ground. The whole environment was truly reminiscent of the hells in legends.
Alm didn’t answer and, controlling the whale, turned to an empty space. Bruno felt nothing, but it took only a few seconds for an aura to emerge like a shadow among the nature.
"I’ve sensed you for quite some time, why did you follow me?!" Alm spoke coldly, his gaze turning bloodthirsty.
Suddenly, a figure appeared from the shadows; it was a small humanoid figure. Its skin had a bluish-gray tone, its eyes looked like a black abyss, but its pointed ears left no doubt.
’Is this a dark elf?’ Bruno asked, a bit surprised. ’I don’t feel any Yang, it must be a pure dark elf. They are quite different from the dark elves we’ve encountered before.’
There had always been many rumors about how dark elves came into existence. Some said they were a demonic variant of elves, others said they were a curse... the only certainty was that they had no direct connection to regular elves. In all universes where they encountered dark elves, they possessed intense Yin, but there was still a bit of Yang in them. This one was 100% Yin.
’Everything leads to the belief that dark elves, much like demons, are natural races of the underworld. Those we encountered should have been hybrids to some extent, thus having Yang in them,’ Alm concluded.
In the next moment, the figure, standing at one and a half meters, approached slowly, gripping its black spear. "Y... YOU!... hand over everything! Or... I’ll hurt you!"
Alm and Bruno froze... what the hell was that? A threat?
’I thought it was just strange... but it’s really a child,’ Alm commented a bit strangely.
Bruno sighed. ’Due to their short lifespan and their appearance being different from a human, he should already be considered an adult. But he looks at most 10 years old, comparing to a human.’
"You... you heard me! Drop everything!" the dark elf spoke loudly and with little confidence.
Alm analyzed the boy’s cultivation, it was the same as all the others, at the ninth level of the Heaven Stage Realm; which intrigued him.
"Brat, were you born here?" the whale asked dryly.
But the response didn’t come, the dark elf just tightened the spear as if to attack at any moment. Soon, Alm snorted, and the whale disappeared.
*Pof*
That little dark elf, despite having higher cultivation, was so full of openings and fragile that he received a light tap on the head and collapsed. He released his spear, falling face-first into the ground, and in that moment, he was covered by earth runes, sealing him completely.
"I have no patience for children," the whale’s voice echoed behind the dark elf, who opened his eyes, feeling his mind spin. "You don’t seem to want to cooperate, but I need information. I’m going to put my mark on your mind; if you lie or try something, I’ll kill you. If you resist, I’ll kill you too."
That little dark elf trembled; was he going to become a slave? But... he closed his eyes, accepting it, it was better than dying. He chose the wrong target.
The whale touched his head and just lightly marked him, more like a locator. Obviously, Bruno wouldn’t allow Alm to enslave a child, even if it just seemed like that. But now they had a source of information.
The earth sealing dissipated, and the dark elf stood up on his knees on the ground. The whale appeared in front of him and asked.
"First, it’s hard to tell if you’re a boy or a girl. Are you native to this place?"
"My name is Yanson... a boy... yes, I and my clan were born and live here."
The response came full of sadness and fear. Bruno and Alm sensed that, and despite him being a boy, it was challenging to perceive; hence, the image of an equally frightened little girl from a not-too-distant past surfaced, leaving them bitter.