"The mark on your soul that I gave you is not a slave seal. It will disappear in ten days. During this period, you must follow my orders. After ten days, it can disappear," said the whale indifferently.
Yanson jumped, initially thinking he would become a slave. But he was thrilled to hear this.
"Really?" asked the dark elf, pleasantly surprised.
"Of course. With your power, do you think you’re qualified to follow me? If I didn’t see any use in you, I would have killed you with a slap," Alm snorted, clearly bitter.
"Thank you very much, master!" He quickly responded.
The boy went from dejected to invigorated in an instant. He had just fallen into hell and was dragged back. He only needed to follow orders for ten days? That was the greatest blessing of his life.
Meanwhile, Bruno was intrigued by Alm’s peculiar emotions. He had spent the entire time meditating and devising a method to save themselves, so he didn’t feel the passing of time. But Alm lived every second of that time and clearly felt an immense void within himself. Bruno didn’t say anything; Alm would never admit it, but he wanted to return to that blazing planet as soon as possible.
"First, what is this place? And why are so many cultivators from outside coming?" Alm asked quickly.
"Hm... my planet is called by outsiders ’Heavenly Black Earth.’ There is a single central city, ruled by the Golden Asuras. They are not from here; according to the stories of my ancestors, they arrived two million years ago. Then they changed the entire core of the planet... it seems like this place became the center of a star formation."
Alm and Bruno listened and were surprised. A star formation was something from the divine realm that encompassed various planets and stars, connecting them... but here, there were no stars; the name must have come from some universe.
"This so-called formation created a place called the ’Elemental Condensation World.’ This completely changed the lives of natives and foreigners alike. Even outside the place, the planet became a sacred land, and everyone here started to cultivate more easily. It wasn’t a bad thing for my race. We had no hope of living long, and we gained a minimal chance; the average level of our cultivation rose significantly."
"So, every century, the central city opens its doors and welcomes cultivators from all over. All with the same goal of going to the ’Elemental Condensation World’ and breaking through to the Elemental Condensation Realm," Yanson concluded.
The whale asked lightly, "Why would they do this together in this place? And the tribulation?"
"It was said that an Immortal God drew energy from hundreds of different planets. Every hundred years, the inner Qi reached a peak, and advancing to the Elemental Condensation Realm inside was much easier. The tribulations would change into pure Yin and Yang lightning with no strong killing intent, but with much greater refinement ability. All races could benefit greatly, but the beasts with a strong physique underwent a heaven-shaking transformation." He answered.
For races without physical power, the heavens distributed weaker tribulations, and they usually advanced with over ninety percent success rate. But among the demonic beasts, the power of the tribulation was much higher, and the mortal power of the lightning would grow proportionally. Only sixty percent would succeed in advancing. Out of ten demonic beasts, about four would die due to the tribulation. The risks were higher, but the benefits were much greater.
Thus, this ’Elemental Condensation World’ was a sacred place for the demonic beast race. As for others, advancing there could stabilize their realm and increase their power without risks. It was a great opportunity to break through, but the main benefit was another.
’Yin and Yang lightning... there shouldn’t be Yang in the underworld, but the lightning comes from celestial laws. This formation must channel the Qi from various places to create this phenomenon. So those with completely Yin bodies can incorporate the Yang from the heavens and significantly increase their life expectancy. If they manage to pass the Body Destruction Realm, their semi-divine body can completely resolve this. It’s a quite unique method that would normally be impossible.’ Bruno commented lightly.
The whale asked, "Can anyone enter this world? What’s the prerequisite?"
"Yes, everyone can enter, just pass the first test and have black gold to pay the entrance fee. That’s why I was here looking for an opportunity..." Yanson spoke a bit dejectedly.
"Black gold? Does your people steal from newcomers to get that?" Alm asked coldly.
"NO! We only steal from those villains who want to destroy!" He quickly spoke. "I was watching newcomers from the top of the demon trees. I saw clearly... sir, coldly destroying a vessel and killing someone who wanted to enter..."
Alm snorted. Despite having no connection, the appearance of the dark elf resembling a common elf is no coincidence. Dark elves have a connection with plants like regular elves, and their senses like vision and hearing are naturally well-developed. With his cultivation and the height of the trees, a dark elf had the ability to clearly see the nearby space of the planet. But... he didn’t hear or perceive that they were the ones being threatened.
Bruno thought, astonished. ’We’ve been falsely accused and treated as villains!’
’We are villains. We just act as such naturally.’ Alm responded emotionlessly.
"Furthermore, the first test is to enter the city. The entire planet is closed by the formation throughout the century, and no one from outside can enter. When there are six months left for the world to open, the planet is unlocked, so everyone must come. When there are three months left, the planet is sealed. Then everyone must survive against each other and reduce their numbers until, in one month, the city opens for registration."
’Still, in the end, they charge to enter. Life for the underworld races is quite tough.’ Bruno thought calmly.
"Everyone from my race is hiding, trying to survive, but we always lose two-thirds of our people every century. We are weak, but our natural Yin is very nourishing for others. Staying together and being found is suicide, so we separate and try to hide." Yanson spoke quickly, then clenched his fists tightly, and his black eyes gleamed.
"All from my race only live a hundred years, and their cultivations almost never reach the Heaven Stage Realm because we die before, either from age or outsiders. I am the youngest and most powerful to emerge in millennia; I reached the point of being able to benefit from the Elemental Condensation World with great effort; I have to help my race. I may not be doing the right thing... but I would never attack someone kind." He concluded with conviction.
’I am kind!’ Bruno mentally roared.
’And I am Jesus,’ Alm retorted with a snort.
Alm then ignored Bruno’s antics and spoke mentally. ’Someone in the Heaven Stage Realm should live for 800 years, but someone with a pure Yin body lives only 100 years. Pure dark elves live short lives like all natives of the underworld. But these pure dark elves are in a place doomed to extermination.’
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
’If he started a massacre, it would still be justified. His sense of goodness landed him in our hands. What stupid logic is this? He was supposed to attack the weaker ones... if we were truly bad, his end would be very painful.’ Bruno added.
The whale asked, "Is there a cultivation level rule to enter? How much time until the planet closes?"
"One day left. Anyone below Elemental Condensation can enter. But anyone below the ninth level..." Yanson began to speak and stopped suddenly. Only now did he notice that the whale was only at the fourth level of the Heaven Stage Realm and was shocked.
"Great, saves me time," Alm responded, then focused on activating a rune within his body.
The Yin rune, an ancient infernal rune, pulsed with all its power. Alm suppressed the entire human bloodline, leaving the behemoth’s beastly bloodline more apparent. The infernal laws covered his skin completely, altering his appearance to a pulsating scarlet. This law possessed a ferocity and left a strong impression. Anyone who saw them might think they were some kind of hybrid demonic beast with some other unidentifiable bloodline.
’Now we’re the true demonic whale!’ Bruno spoke lightly.
Alm ignored, continuing: ’Humans here must be rare or not even exist; we can’t attract so much attention. Now we have to get that black gold.’
’And since when have we managed not to attract attention? This won’t last long; but we won’t massacre to get resources!’ Bruno replied seriously.
’Massacre? We’ll just protect the poor and defenseless dark elves... we can’t let them die without doing anything, right?’ Alm concluded with a dark smile.
’This...’ Bruno couldn’t find a flaw in Alm’s ’kindness.’