Mysterious Essence

"Let's go, it's time to head back."

Led by Luo Ya, Milia and Morti followed him back into the metal lifeform of the Fiend Castle. Even now, Milia was still secretly excited about the intense battle that had just taken place.

Sooner or later, she would be able to reach that level too!

The handsome youth from the Fiend Castle saw the three of them return together and smiled slightly: "Congratulations!"

"Congratulations?" After Luo Ya and his companions stepped into the rear cabin of the metal lifeform, they scanned the area. There were plenty of seats, enough to hold a thousand people. However, it was mostly empty now, with only a sparse few remaining. "A thousand people came, and not even a hundred survived!"

After waiting inside the metal lifeform for a while longer, the handsome youth flew back in and gave a direct order: "Everyone who could make it back has returned. Let's go!" Instantly, the metal lifeform transformed into a blur and vanished into the distant horizon.

During the journey, to increase their speed, the person in charge from the Fiend Castle specifically shrank the size of the metal lifeform.

While there had been over a thousand seats on the way here, there were only a hundred now, which forced everyone in the rear cabin to sit much closer together.

"Brother, it's great that all three of you made it back alive!" Beside them, Trey, the Dragon-kin youth who had struck up a conversation with Luo Ya earlier, looked utterly dejected.

Although he had managed to survive, his companions had not been so lucky.

"This is what it means to be a Fiend; you never know if you'll survive your next mission." Perhaps because they had a deep impression of the Dragon-kin youth, many of the other surviving examinees sighed with similar sentiments.

Hell had always been this way. Slaughter and combat were the eternal, unchanging themes of this place.

The return trip was slightly faster than the journey there. Luo Ya and his companions first enjoyed a grand meal at a restaurant before heading back to the Fiend Castle.

The first-floor hall of the Fiend Castle was crowded with many people, and the three of them joined the throng.

"Miss Mary, we meet again!" Milia stood before the counter and greeted the staff member, Mary, with a smile.

Mary looked at Milia and her two companions with pleasant surprise: "Milia, I was just lamenting that so few people from your batch returned alive. I didn't expect all three of you to make it back. My congratulations."

"You're here to submit your examination tokens, right? Becoming a Fiend still requires going through some procedures..." Under Mary's guidance, the three of them followed the stairs up to the second floor of the Fiend Castle.

"Hand over your Shadow Guard Tokens and your Fiend Medals," the staff member in black robes said in a loud, clear voice.

Submitting the tokens and processing the procedure to become a "Fiend" was indeed a bit tedious.

Fortunately, the black-robed person was quite efficient, taking only a few minutes to process each person.

Soon, the three of them received their own Fiend Medals.

"Luo Ya, where shall we go next?" Now that she had officially become a Fiend, Milia grew even more expectant about the days to come.

"It doesn't matter where. I just want to enjoy the process of roaming Hell and temper my strength along the way," Luo Ya replied nonchalantly.

"You're right," Milia mused for a moment. "Then shall we go accept a Fiend mission now?"

"No rush," Luo Ya said with a faint smile. "Watching the battle between Aliquin and the others earlier gave me quite a few insights into the Laws of Darkness. I intend to meditate and cultivate for a while longer."

"More insights?" Milia nodded and readily agreed.

Thus, the three returned to their hotel and began exploring the laws individually, hoping to make further progress in their profound mysteries.

As for Morti, he began refining the Water Highgod Spark that Luo Ya had just bestowed upon him.

Since he had chosen the path of refining a god spark, he naturally had to see it through to the end.

Luo Ya had gained quite a lot from this Fiend examination mission.

Especially from the "Evil" mystery displayed by Natlan.

He had previously been unable to find a point of convergence between his other mysteries and this "Evil" mystery, but the moment he felt that move from Natlan, he had found the opportunity.

"Furthermore, the uses for this Shadow Clone Technique are indeed quite diverse." The Laws of Darkness excelled in escape and speed, primarily due to this Shadow Clone Technique.

Especially after fusing it with other mysteries, some of the flaws of the Shadow Clone Technique would continue to be mitigated.

Whether it was Aliquin or Natlan, both were actually Six-Star Fiends with extremely strong survival capabilities.

If it weren't for the fact that Aliquin's attainments in this area were enough to rival Natlan's, allowing him to hold him back, combined with the presence of Pusiluo, Natlan would not have been killed.

"I should start by fusing the Dark Element and the Evil mystery." Since he had already found the point of convergence, Luo Ya naturally had to prioritize cultivating the Evil mystery.

"Once the fusion of the Evil mystery and the Dark Element reaches completion, I'll go look for the point of convergence between the Evil mystery and the Devouring mystery. That should be much easier... Finally, I will work on the overall fusion of all three mysteries." Luo Ya had a very clear plan for his short-term cultivation.

Moreover, he had previously browsed through the insights on the "Laws of Darkness" available in Hell and knew that the Evil mystery was also a high-level mystery.

The Laws of Darkness were divided into six major mysteries: Dark Element, Shadow Clone Technique, Wither (Dark Corrosion), Fear, Evil, and Devouring.

In that theoretical book, all six mysteries of the Laws of Darkness were introduced in detail, including analyses and insights into their respective power and focus.

For example, the Devouring mystery primarily acted on the material plane, and its most correct development direction was divided into two main categories: attack and trapping enemies.

The attack aspect went without saying; once the Devouring mystery accumulated enough momentum and unleashed its internal power of annihilation, its might was in no way inferior to the powerful offensive capabilities of the Laws of Fire, the Laws of Wind, and so on.

Of course, because the explosive power of the Devouring mystery had certain limitations, the ideal situation was to maximize its potential for trapping enemies as well.

Not everyone could form a Devouring Vortex as terrifying as Luo Ya's.

Under normal circumstances, the "suction" power of this move was similar to the Wind Space mystery of the Laws of Wind, primarily used to restrict an enemy's speed and movement.

Only when the disparity was too great—such as a Midgod against a Lowgod, or a Highgod against an ordinary Midgod—could it achieve the effect of directly "devouring" a person and annihilating them into nothingness.

The spacious and bright room had somehow turned pitch-black, and the temperature within had plummeted, giving off a chilling, gloomy sensation.

"Mysteries of Evil..."

The first time he had felt a touch of these mysteries was during that battle against the elf lady Beiya back in the Material Plane.

At this moment, Luo Ya recalled the bizarre changes he had witnessed in Natlan.

"Was it because of those eight spider legs?" Luo Ya could not help but begin to think deeply.

That lady Beiya did indeed enjoy manifesting eight cold, octopus-like tentacles to face her enemies, which was somewhat similar to Natlan. Furthermore, possessing these 'tentacles' or 'spider legs' did indeed elevate their combat strength to a higher level.

"But I always feel... this is just a superficial appearance." There were so many who cultivated the Laws of Darkness, and it was impossible for all of them to be octopus monsters or spider monsters.

"It definitely isn't that simple..." Luo Ya continued to contemplate the mysteries within.

Gaining insight into the laws, or even bringing a single mystery to complete mastery, was merely a beginning.

Why was it that among those who had comprehended six mysteries on their own, some could manage to fuse multiple mysteries, while others could not fuse them at all?

This was because they had fundamentally failed to grasp the 'essence of the laws' behind comprehending the mysteries.

Only by grasping the 'essence' of a mystery could one keenly perceive the points of compatibility between the mysteries of the laws.

"What is the essence of evil? Is it related to temperament?" Luo Ya recalled the various powerhouses of the Laws of Darkness he had encountered and shook his head.

It was true that many powerhouses who cultivated the Laws of Darkness were reclusive in nature, but that was not absolute; it remained merely a superficial appearance.