"Let's go. We should head back."
Led by Luo Ya, Milia and Morti followed him back into the Fiend Castle's Metal Lifeform. Even now, Milia was still secretly thrilled by the fierce battle they had just fought.
One day, she would be able to do the same!
The handsome young man from Fiend Castle smiled as he saw the three of them return together. "Congratulations!"
"Congratulations?" The three of them stepped into the rear cabin of the Metal Lifeform. A glance around showed that it had enough seats for a thousand people. Yet now, most of them were empty, with only a sparse scattering of passengers. "A thousand people came, and fewer than a hundred survived!"
After they had waited inside the Metal Lifeform for a while, the handsome young man flew back aboard and gave an order. "Everyone who could make it back is here. Let's go!" In an instant, the Metal Lifeform turned into a blur and vanished into the distant horizon.
To make the return trip faster, the person in charge from Fiend Castle even went out of his way to reduce the Metal Lifeform's size.
It had had more than a thousand seats on the way there, but now it had only a hundred, leaving everyone in the rear cabin seated much closer together.
"Brother, it's great that all three of you made it back alive!" Nearby, Trey, the Dragon-man youth who had struck up a conversation with Luo Ya earlier, looked downcast.
He had managed to make it back alive, but his companions hadn't been so lucky.
"That's what being a Fiend is like. You never know if you'll survive the next mission." Perhaps because they remembered the Dragon-man youth, several of the other survivors nearby voiced similar sentiments.
Hell had always been this way. Slaughter and battle were its eternal themes.
The return trip was a little faster than the journey there. Luo Ya and the others first enjoyed a lavish meal at a restaurant, then returned to Fiend Castle.
Quite a few people had gathered in the first-floor hall of Fiend Castle, and the three of them were among them.
"Miss Mary, we meet again!" Milia stood at the counter and greeted Mary, the attendant, with a smile.
Mary looked at Milia and her two companions with pleasant surprise. "Milia, I was just thinking about how few people from your group made it back alive. I didn't expect all three of you to return safely. Congratulations!"
"You're here to submit the tokens from your assessment, right? There are a few procedures you need to go through to become Fiends..." Guided by Mary, the three of them climbed the stairs to the second floor of Fiend Castle.
"Hand over your Shadow Guard Tokens and your Fiend badges," the black-robed employee said loudly.
Submitting their tokens and completing the procedures to become Fiends was indeed a little tedious.
Fortunately, the black-robed employee worked quickly and could process each person in about a few minutes.
Before long, the three of them had received their Fiend Medals.
"Luo Ya, where are we going next?" Now that she had officially become a Fiend, Milia was looking forward to what lay ahead more and more.
"Anywhere is fine. I just want to enjoy exploring Hell and use the experience to hone my strength," Luo Ya replied nonchalantly.
"You're right." Milia pondered for a moment. "So should we take a Fiend Mission now?"
"No rush." Luo Ya smiled faintly. "Watching Aliquin and the others fight earlier gave me quite a few new insights into the Laws of Darkness. I plan to spend some more time cultivating."
"You've had another insight?" Milia nodded, readily agreeing.
The three of them returned to their hotel and set about exploring the laws, hoping to advance further in their understanding of the Profound Mysteries.
As for Morti, he began refining the Water Highgod Spark Luo Ya had just given him.
Since he had chosen the path of refining divine sparks, he naturally had to see it through.
Luo Ya had gained a great deal from this Fiend Assessment mission.
In particular, there was the Mystery of Evil that Natlan had used.
He had never found a point of compatibility between the Mystery of Evil and any of the other Profound Mysteries, but the moment he sensed Natlan's move, he had found the opening he needed.
"Besides, the Shadow Clone Technique really does have a wide range of uses." The Laws of Darkness excelled at escape and speed, largely thanks to the Shadow Clone Technique.
Its flaws could be further remedied, especially after it was fused with other Profound Mysteries.
Both Aliquin and Natlan were Six-Star Fiends with exceptional survivability.
If Aliquin hadn't been skilled enough to hold Natlan off, matching him in that regard, and if Pusiluo hadn't been there, Natlan wouldn't have been killed.
"I should fuse the Dark Element and the Mystery of Evil first." Now that he had found a point of compatibility between the Profound Mysteries, Luo Ya naturally decided to prioritize cultivating the Mystery of Evil.
"Once the Mystery of Evil and the Dark Element are fully fused, finding a point of compatibility between the Mystery of Evil and Devour should be much easier... Only then should I work on fusing all three Profound Mysteries together." Luo Ya had a clear plan for his cultivation in the near future.
He had also previously read a book in Hell that discussed the Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Darkness, and knew that the Mystery of Evil was a High-level Profound Mystery as well.
The Laws of Darkness were divided into six Profound Mysteries: [Dark Element], [Shadow Clone Technique], [Withering (Dark Corrosion)], [Fear], [Evil], and [Devour].
That theoretical book had introduced all six Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Darkness in detail, analyzing their respective strengths and areas of focus.
For example, the Profound Mystery of [Devour] primarily affected physical matter. The two main ways to develop it were attack and trapping enemies.
The offensive application went without saying. Once the Profound Mystery of [Devour] had gathered enough power and unleashed the annihilating force within, its might was in no way inferior to that of powerful offensive laws like the Laws of Fire and the Laws of Wind.
Of course, since the power of the Profound Mystery of [Devour] was somewhat limited, the ideal approach was to develop its ability to trap enemies to the utmost as well.
Not everyone's Devouring Vortex was as terrifying as Luo Ya's.
Under normal circumstances, the vortex's devouring pull was only similar to the Profound Mystery of [Wind Space] in the Laws of Wind. Its main purpose was to restrict an enemy's speed and movement.
Only when there was a vast difference in strength—such as between a Midgod and a Lowgod, or a Highgod and an ordinary Midgod—could it directly devour someone and annihilate them into nothingness.
At some point, the spacious, brightly lit room had grown completely dark. Even the temperature had plunged, leaving the air feeling cold and bleak.
"The Mystery of Evil..."
The first time he had sensed this Profound Mystery was during his battle with the elf, Beiya, in the Material Plane.
Now, though, Luo Ya found himself thinking back to the bizarre transformation Natlan had undergone.
"Was it because of those eight spider legs?" Luo Ya couldn't help but ponder the question more deeply.
Miss Beiya did indeed like to conjure eight icy tentacles, much like an octopus's, to fight her enemies. That was somewhat similar to Natlan. And having tentacles or spider legs had indeed taken their combat abilities to another level.
"But I have a feeling... that's only the surface." There were so many people who cultivated the Laws of Darkness; they couldn't all be octopus or spider monsters.
"It can't be that simple..." Luo Ya continued to contemplate the mystery.
Sensing the laws, or even comprehending a Profound Mystery completely, was only the beginning.
Why was it that among people who had personally comprehended six Profound Mysteries, some could fuse multiple mysteries while others couldn't fuse them at all?
That was because they had never grasped the very essence of the laws underlying the Profound Mysteries they had comprehended.
Only by grasping the essence of a Profound Mystery could one keenly perceive the points of compatibility between the various Profound Mysteries.
"What is the essence of Evil? Is it related to temperament?" Luo Ya thought of the various powerful cultivators of the Laws of Darkness he had met and shook his head.
It was true that many cultivators of the Laws of Darkness were reclusive by nature, but that wasn't always the case. That, too, was only a surface impression.
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