Token

Over the years of practicing Destruction Battle Qi, Leian had been pondering what destruction truly was.

Literally, destruction meant extreme and thorough ruin. It sounded simple enough, but how exactly could one achieve it? He had always been in a fog, knowing the result but not the reason behind it.

But at this moment, after witnessing the "Black Light" unleashed by Demos that annihilated everything, he suddenly found his direction.

Looking at the external manifestation, that "Black Light" annihilated everything and certainly counted as a form of destruction, even if, in terms of the profound mysteries of the laws, it likely originated from the "Devour" mystery of the Laws of Darkness.

In fact, different laws and rules are sometimes interconnected in their mysteries. Just as Linley observed the battle of "Lier-mons" to comprehend the mysteries of the Laws of Wind, or observed the endless cycle of life in the Laws of Water to comprehend the Power of Life in the Laws of Earth, and so on.

Although Leian had not comprehended the specific rules of destruction from the "Devour" mystery, he had found the direction to comprehend the rules of destruction.

In the Coiling Dragon World, all things are condensed from various elements. So, what is thorough destruction?

Naturally, it is to return all things to their elemental state!

If you smash a stone into powder, that is only the simplest form of destruction; if you decompose it into Earth Elements, you have taken a step further in destruction.

But is decomposing it into an elemental state the pinnacle of destruction?

Certainly not; the pinnacle should be nothingness!

However, knowing is easy, but doing is hard. Just like when Linley comprehended the 256-fold vibrations of the Pulse of the Earth, he knew the path ahead was to fuse those 256 vibrations back into one, yet it took him decades to achieve that step.

For Leian, the principle was the same.

But what mattered was that Leian had found his direction.

On the other side, Margaret was well aware of Demos's abilities. Therefore, the moment the black flames surged, she had already retreated at high speed, yet she only barely managed to escape the range of the black halo.

At this moment, her state was not good. Her black robe was long gone, revealing a tight-fitting black combat suit, and half of the long sword in her hand had vanished.

"Demos, you win!"

After glancing at the broken sword in her hand, Margaret conceded with a very calm expression. Then, she soared into the air, appearing to intend to leave.

However, as luck would have it, the direction she chose to leave was exactly where Leian was located. When her figure arrived above Leian, she stopped without warning.

Leian was currently in the excitement of an epiphany. Seeing this, his heart skipped a beat, and he secretly thought, This woman wouldn't be a sore loser and plan to silence me, would she?

At this moment, he saw Margaret look down and ask, "Are you Leian from Qingshi Town?"

As she spoke, her gaze lingered for a moment on the Phantom Magic Monkey behind Leian, and a trace of inexplicable meaning flashed by.

Leian did not notice the change in Margaret's expression, but he was startled to hear the other party call his name.

After a brief silence, he nodded and replied, "It is me!"

The other party was a Saint Realm powerhouse and the eldest disciple of the Goddess of Dark Night. As a ninth-rank warrior, he had no ability to resist regardless, so he decided to see what her intentions were first.

"With your level, stepping into the Saint Realm is not a difficult task. Take this!"

As her words fell, Margaret suddenly threw an object.

Leian's heart stirred. Watching the black shadow flying toward him, he reached out his right hand and caught it. When he looked closely, it was a black token the size of a palm.

There were no characters on the token, only the emblem of the Church of the Goddess of Dark Night.

"This is?"

Leian raised his head in confusion. Just as he was about to ask about the purpose of the token, the other party had already soared away, rapidly disappearing into the horizon.

And at this moment, a familiar voice suddenly came from afar:

"Leian!"

Leian looked toward the sound and discovered that the person calling him was an acquaintance.

"Derrick, I didn't expect you to have come here too!"

Leian greeted him with a smile. The person who arrived was Derrick, an eighth-rank warrior he had met by chance two years ago. It seemed he was also one of those who had just been watching the battle.

Moreover, after two years of not seeing him, his aura had become much stronger. It looked like he was not far from becoming a ninth-rank warrior. Is this what a genius is?

Leian thought silently.

Derrick was extremely fast, but before he even reached Leian's side, he shouted, "Quick, the Goddess Token, quick, let me see it!"

Hearing this, Leian instantly realized that the token in his hand was the "Goddess Token" Derrick spoke of. Their relationship was decent enough that he wasn't afraid of Derrick having any ulterior motives, so he tossed the token to him as requested.

Derrick caught it, caressing it in his palm while clicking his tongue in admiration, as if he were holding some incredible treasure.

"A Goddess Token! I never thought I, Derrick, would live to see one with my own eyes!"

Watching Derrick's obsessed expression, Leian couldn't help but find it a bit funny. After a moment of thought, he asked, "Looking at you, it seems you know the function of this token?"

"You don't know?" Derrick raised his head with a look of astonishment, as if he couldn't believe it.

Leian shook his head. He had lived in the remote Qingshi Town, where news was scarce and there was no Church of the Goddess of Dark Night. Since the token in his hand was clearly related to the Goddess of Dark Night, wasn't it normal that he didn't know?

Although he had later come to the imperial capital, Maple Leaf City, he hadn't stayed long before heading to the Youquan Mountain Range. He certainly didn't know as much as a veteran eighth-rank warrior like Derrick.

Derrick looked Leian up and down, pondered for a moment, and sighed, "It seems you really are a commoner genius!"

Leian smiled at this and said nothing. As for being a genius, he just listened and let it pass; he wasn't interested. But the word "commoner" was not wrong—for instance, his family had no surname.

Generally speaking, only nobles had surnames; commoners did not, unless their ancestors had once been prominent.

Of course, given Leian's current achievements, if he were to have descendants in the future, they could directly use "Leian" as their surname.

Derrick seemed to notice that Leian was not particularly interested in the empty fame of being called a genius, so he stopped mentioning it and turned to explain the origin of the token.

According to what he said, this token did not actually have a specific name; it was just that because it was issued by a disciple of the Goddess of Dark Night, people usually referred to it as the "Goddess Token".

It had only one purpose: it was a proof of qualification.

Possessing the Goddess Token was equivalent to having the qualification to compete for the position of a named disciple of the Goddess!

Under normal circumstances, those qualified to receive the token were Saint Realm powerhouses, and they were not very old, generally geniuses who had reached the Saint Realm within fifty years of age.

There had been cases in the past of people like Leian receiving the token while still being a ninth-rank warrior, but they were extremely rare.

That was why a proud person like Derrick would sincerely and wholeheartedly praise Leian as a "genius".

"If I remember correctly, there are only fifteen years left until the next great battle for the named discipleship, Leian. You don't have much time left."

As Derrick spoke, he handed the token back, his expression appearing somewhat regretful.

The battle for the Goddess's named discipleship took place once every hundred years; in such a situation, the younger one was, the more disadvantaged they were.

In Derrick's eyes, even if Leian successfully broke through within fifteen years, he would only be a newcomer to the Saint Realm, and compared to those Saint Realm powerhouses who were eighty or ninety years old, his strength would certainly be significantly inferior.

However, for Leian, was that really the case?

Leian smiled but said nothing.

Fifteen years?

Fifteen years was not short; if he were lucky, he might even have become a god by then!