Instant Kill

"They are from the Darkness Church?" Ram's expression shifted.

Although he had lived in the Dark Forest all this time, he was aware of what was happening in the outside world. The Radiant Church, once the strongest power on the Zhongyuan Continent, had been defeated by the Darkness Church and forced to retreat to the southeastern corner of the continent. Such a major event was known to basically all the Saint-level experts in the Dark Forest, and they were even worried about whether their own territory would come under attack.

It was quite ironic. Because the location of the Dark Forest was suitable for practicing dark magic and was heavy with miasma, the Radiant Church had never been interested in it. It was true that the Radiant Church had members who practiced dark magic, but their numbers were too few to cause any major shift in the church's policies.

However, it was a different story now that the Darkness Church had arrived. Most of their members practiced the Laws of Darkness. As for the miasma, while it might have a significant impact on ordinary humans, Saint-level experts or even those above rank 7 didn't care much about it. A place so suitable for cultivation was something the Darkness Church might actually want to occupy.

"Indeed, it was to be expected. I just didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that they would arrive right as I was preparing to leave," Sean said with a faint smile, though in truth.

When the Darkness Church was at its peak, the entire Zhongyuan Continent would basically belong to them. Even for the Radiant Church, which had retreated to the southeastern corner of the continent, it was hard to say if they would face further attacks. The principle of "strike while the iron is hot" applied here.

God-level experts would never give up on the struggle for the power of faith. The Radiant Church had previously occupied half the continent without dealing a lethal blow to other factions, not out of mercy, but because if a true God-level war broke out—even among Lowgods—they couldn't guarantee their own experts would remain unscathed even with a numerical advantage. Thus, a balance had formed.

But now that the Darkness Church had produced a Midgod, they would certainly fight for all the power of faith. They would either kill off other hostile God-level experts or force them to the Higher Planes to unify the power of faith across the entire continent. Perhaps that was why so many experts headed to the Higher Planes—they were forced to.

If the Radiant Church or any other divine sect had produced a Midgod, they would have done the same.

In an era where the Sovereigns did not care about the power of faith, the faith of the material planes had basically been occupied by the local gods.

The location of the Radiant Church was not necessarily safe, and the same was true for basically every part of the Zhongyuan Continent. As for the endless East Sea and South Sea, Sean dared not go there even more.

Although the opposition had six Saint-level experts, Sean didn't care. With his current Profound Mysteries, his weapon, and the innate talent of the God-Eater Rat, he feared no one below the God level.

In a short while, the six members of the Darkness Church—five men and one woman—arrived before Sean.

"Such dense darkness elements!" The leader, a man of about 30, had his expression change the moment he arrived, his eyes filled with surprise.

Although they had heard that the interior of the Dark Forest had more darkness elements, their church hadn't paid much attention to it because the church actually possessed magic arrays that could gather various elements. The cost was just quite high, and they were generally reserved for super geniuses or top-tier experts.

For the past few years, the Darkness Church had been engaged in multi-front wars with the Radiant Church, so they hadn't bothered with the Dark Forest within their sphere of control. The place wasn't going anywhere, after all. Now, although there was still some fighting at the front lines, things had basically stabilized, so the six of them had been dispatched to scout the Dark Forest.

Just after entering the depths of the forest, they had noticed that the concentration of darkness elements was slightly higher, but it was still far inferior to their own magic arrays. However, it was free, and the area was large enough. While it wasn't of much use to Saint-level experts, it was still a good place for those below rank 9 to cultivate. The only problem was that the miasma needed to be dealt with.

But they hadn't expected to accidentally discover two Saint-level experts, one of whom was human. They had intended to come over and ask some questions, but they never imagined that the concentration of darkness elements here would be so incredibly high. Such a place would have a massive auxiliary effect on cultivation, even for Saint-level experts. If the Darkness Church controlled this place, the number of experts would inevitably surge after countless years, which could even solve the church's current situation of having a severe shortage of experts.

"Who are you?" one of the men beside the young leader asked, looking at Sean.

"It's useless for you to know," Sean said calmly. Then, his figure flashed, appearing before them like lightning. He aimed the Purple Blood God Sword at the leader and struck down with his strongest physical attack.

The reason he hadn't run away earlier was that he wanted to obtain some useful information from these people. However, to get information, leaving one person alive was enough. Once he had identified the leader, he struck immediately.

The leader's expression changed. A large amount of darkness elements formed a spear that rushed toward Sean at high speed. At the same time, a long spear appeared in his hand, radiating a terrifying aura. This was also a Lowgod artifact, and one belonging to the Laws of Darkness.

The spear that attacked first was an attack condensed from the Laws of Darkness. Under the probe of Sean's soul energy, he discovered that its power was immense, far exceeding what he could achieve with the same move. And this was just an attack the man had unleashed in a short time; it seemed the man's Darkness Element Profound Mystery had reached a very high level.

But unfortunately, physical attacks were influenced by too many factors, such as physical strength and the weapon used. Sean's Laws and Profound Mysteries were indeed inferior to the opponent's, but the attack power bonus from the Purple Blood God Sword combined with the formidable body of a God-Eater Rat was almost the upper limit for the Saint-level.

Before the spear of darkness elements could get close, it was shattered by the battle-qi on the Purple Blood God Sword. The speed of the divine sword was not affected in the slightest. The leader of the Darkness Church turned pale with shock and hurriedly retracted his previous attack, focusing all his energy on blocking Sean's sword. Under the probe of his soul energy, he also confirmed that this sword was a divine artifact.

"Bang!" The sound of weapons clashing rang out. When his elemental spear was shattered, the leader of the Darkness Church knew the opponent was very strong. He hadn't expected to win this exchange, and he even thought he might be pushed back.

But what he didn't expect was that the moment his divine spear—forged for him by his father—made contact with the purple divine sword, a massive force surged through. His wrist felt a sharp pain, and the divine spear was knocked away by the sword strike. The opponent's longsword didn't pause for even a second, slicing directly toward his head.

At such close range, he couldn't dodge at all, and he didn't even have the chance to beg for mercy. His entire head was shattered by the impact.

PS: Asking for votes for the new week.