The Purple Blood God Sword had originally belonged to the Violet Blood Fiend, a Seven-Star Fiend from Hell during Beirut's era. It had been his weapon of attack.
After Beirut seized the Sovereign Spark from Augusta, the Radiant Sovereign, he grew bored and created the Necropolis of the Gods, using Sovereign Artifacts to attract experts from the Higher Planes. The Violet Blood Fiend, who had long since reached the peak of the Seven-Star Fiend level, was drawn there. Beirut then subdued him, and used his weapon to seal the breach in the Plane Prison.
The Magic Array used to seal the breach in the Plane Prison had come from the Higher Planes or the Divine Planes. By nature, it gathered the elemental energy in the surrounding area.
In the original story, Linley had accidentally stumbled into a place inhabited by over a hundred Level Eight or Level Nine Magical Beasts and nearly been killed. That had eventually led to the discovery of the Magic Array and the Violet Blood Soft Sword.
The reason so many Magical Beasts had gathered there was the Magic Array. It caused the elemental energy nearby to become a hundred times denser than normal, attracting large numbers of Magical Beasts.
If Shengyue City had been safe and sound, Sean wouldn't have minded lying low there while he waited to become a god through the Darkness Laws. But now the Darkness Church had put him on its wanted list, and he could run into enemies at any time. Once they set their sights on him, even with a Highgod Artifact and a Soul-Protecting Sovereign Artifact, he'd be as good as dead if he ran into any Saint Warrior or a Saint-level mage with even a little foundation in the Laws.
So he had to become a Saint-level expert as quickly as possible. Once he did, with the Purple Blood God Sword, the physical strength of a God-Eater Rat, the power that strength gave him, and the foundation in certain Mysteries that came naturally with being a God-Eater Rat, he'd at least be able to fight if he ran into someone at the Saint-level peak.
Therefore, even though he suspected that this Plane Sealing Magic Array might cause trouble in the future, he couldn't afford to worry about that now.
Of course, if he ran into a god-level expert, he'd still be doomed. Any Saint-level expert—unless he was the true body of a powerful Highgod, or a Amethyst Divine Beast from Hell—would be like a Highgod facing a Sovereign if he encountered a Lowgod. The gap was simply a chasm.
Still, god-level experts from the Darkness Church weren't exactly commonplace, so the odds of running into one were very low. Besides, with the help of this Magic Array, he would surely benefit not only in reaching the Saint-level, but also in his cultivation afterward.
There were risks, of course. This Magic Array had originally been used to seal the Plane Prison in the Yulan Plane, and now he had manifested it. Who knew what else might be sealed inside? In theory, the Zhongyuan Material Plane should also have a Plane Prison.
There was no need to keep puzzling over things he couldn't figure out. After all, there was a Plane Overseer. Generally speaking, the midgods from the Divine Planes who guarded the teleportation arrays were powerful enough to suppress an entire plane. That was the case with the Aokaren Material Plane. The Plane Prison was barren of energy, so in theory it wouldn't have any particularly powerful experts. The Yulan Plane was simply an exception: somehow, it had produced an existence only one step away from becoming a Paragon. There probably weren't many like that even in the Higher Planes.
Half a day later, the elemental energy around the Magic Array had grown astonishingly dense. Sean had once visited a Magic Array inside Shengyue City, one built by the Radiant Church to gather light elements, but compared with the concentration here, it was far inferior. The area it affected was on a completely different scale, too.
Under Sean's soul-power perception, the Darkness Attribute had qualitatively improved across an area several miles wide.
"With an area this large, it'll probably attract a lot of Magical Beasts if it goes on long enough." Sean was a little worried, but he had no way to control the situation.
Still, Magical Beasts were far preferable to people from the Darkness Church. He had chosen to manifest the Magic Array in the Dark Forest precisely because he was worried about that. If a large concentration of dark energy suddenly appeared in a populated area, there was a ninety-nine percent chance it would attract powerful experts.
The Dark Forest was a much better choice. For countless years, Saint-level Magical Beasts and human experts from the outside world had maintained a balance. The beasts lived deep in the forest. Sean's location wasn't on the outskirts, but it wasn't close to the interior either. As long as the interior of the Dark Forest had no system of governance like that of humans, information would spread very slowly.
Besides, Magical Beasts around Level Nine were quite intelligent. Even if they discovered this place, they probably wouldn't run into the forest interior to alert the Saint-level Magical Beasts there. Why not take advantage of the opportunity and become Saint-level experts themselves?
In any case, there were risks. Leilia faced risks returning to the Holy See, and hiding nearby carried risks too. If the Saint-level expert who had slaughtered the city set his sights on him, resisting or not, he'd die either way.
Here, he only needed to buy himself enough time to reach the Saint-level. Once he did, he'd naturally be able to manifest more useful things to aid his cultivation.
Putting all other thoughts aside, Sean took a number of books from his Spatial Ring. They were all about cultivating dark magic. Back in Shengyue City, since he had been preparing to manifest a God-Eater Rat bloodline, he had made sure to gather books on all kinds of dark and wind magic, especially those on the advanced dark magic, Shadow Clone.
Fortunately, as one of the largest cities on the Zhongyuan Continent, Shengyue City had a great many books on all kinds of magic. There were even a few basic texts on necromancy, Life Magic, and the Fate Law. Unfortunately, Sean had tried to understand them, but simply couldn't.
The Mystery that allowed a God-Eater Rat to become a god was Shadow Clone, so Sean naturally needed to study it more. With the Magic Array here to help, he would do everything he could to improve as quickly as possible.
Spring passed and autumn came. In the blink of an eye, a year had gone by. The dark energy in the canyon had gathered to a terrifying level, drawing in large numbers of Magical Beasts with the Darkness Attribute, from Level Seven to Level Nine. However, the weaker ones were mostly killed by the Level Nine Magical Beasts.
Sean was able to coexist peacefully with them. He kept the Purple Blood God Sword pressed down on the Magic Array, summoning it to his hand whenever he needed it. Although he couldn't draw out much of its power, its sharpness alone was enough. No matter what kind of dragon or Magical Beast he faced, Sean could slice through its hide with a single stroke. The strongest defense that had once protected them from human attacks had instead become their weakness against Sean.
In the end, they all tacitly accepted one another's presence. Sean hadn't wiped them out because there were too many of them; even if he killed them, more dark Magical Beasts would keep coming. It was better to let them wear one another down. Besides, the dark elemental energy here was practically limitless, so there was no need to compete for it. He had simply claimed the spot closest to the Magic Array.
That day, heavy snow began to fall from the sky, but not a single snowflake landed where Sean sat. Suddenly, a powerful current of air surged out from his body. He hadn't moved or cast any wind magic, yet his body slowly floated upward.
Sean suddenly opened his eyes. After a year of cultivation, he had finally reached the Saint-level.
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