"Lord Luo Ao, thank you." Before they parted, Darren bowed deeply to Luo Ao once again in thanks. He seemed somewhat different now.
With his long-cherished wish fulfilled in a single day, Darren now felt empty inside. He seemed unable to find any other meaning in life.
Perhaps following Lord Luo Ao would be a good choice... An unexpected thought suddenly arose in Darren's mind. With Lord Luo Ao's talent, he would surely venture into a Divine Plane in the future.
To him, Lord Luo Ao's talent was simply too inconceivable. Perhaps he might accomplish things in the future that Darren would not even dare imagine.
But when all is said and done, Lord Luo Ao and I have no particularly close relationship. Why would he help me then? Throughout the journey back to the imperial capital, Darren kept thinking about this.
"Korno might not have had much else, but he certainly collected plenty of ores and materials." After binding Korno's Space Ring with a drop of blood, Luo Ao failed to find a second Divine Spark inside. There were, however, plenty of materials for making Divine Artifacts, Saint-level magic cores, and similar items.
"He was only an ordinary Lowgod from a Material Plane, after all. It's normal that he didn't have anything particularly good." Luo Ao put the items away without dwelling on them and soon returned to Helen City.
Late at night, only Luo Ao and his father, Bourne, were in Luo Ao's room.
"Luo Ao, why did you ask me here so late?" Bourne did not know that Luo Ao had gone out a short while earlier, much less that he had just slain another deity together with the legendary emperor Darren, so he was rather curious about what Luo Ao wanted.
"Father, I have something to give you." Luo Ao suddenly smiled mysteriously, then took a glossy black crystal from his Space Ring.
A dense aura of darkness emanated from the mysterious crystal.
"What is this?"
Bourne took the black crystal in puzzlement, completely unable to recognize what it was. But the dense elemental aura emanating from it alone told him that it was undoubtedly a treasure!
"This is a Divine Spark," Luo Ao said with a smile.
"A Divine Spark?" Bourne looked up at Luo Ao in astonishment.
Previously, he really would not have known what a Divine Spark was, but after Luo Ao became a deity, he had specifically explained the meaning of "Divine Spark" to him.
"Luo Ao? This? How did you get this?" Bourne now felt the hand holding the black crystal trembling a little. This thing was actually a Divine Spark? Did that not mean he would become a deity if he refined it?
"I killed another deity, so naturally, I obtained this Divine Spark." To keep his father, Bourne, from worrying, Luo Ao explained the entire sequence of events in detail.
"So this Divine Spark actually came from the Dark Church." Bourne swallowed. By now, he also understood what Luo Ao meant.
"This Divine Spark contains a profound mystery of the Darkness Law called the 'Shadow Clone Technique.' Though this profound mystery isn't strong in direct combat, its speed and ability to keep you alive are extremely powerful." In Luo Ao's judgment, finding a Lowgod Divine Spark like this in a Material Plane was quite good.
Those who refined Divine Sparks were inherently weaker than experts who became deities on their own. This darkness Divine Spark, containing a survival-focused profound mystery like the Shadow Clone Technique, was not necessarily inferior to a Divine Spark containing a high-level profound mystery.
"The minimum strength required to refine a Divine Spark is Saint-level. I'll find a way for Mother and my elder sister later. Take this Divine Spark and refine it first." Luo Ao offered a few more words of explanation and persuasion. Fortunately, his father, Bourne, had successfully broken through to Saint-level while Luo Ao was becoming a deity; otherwise, he truly would not have been able to refine this Divine Spark.
"To think that I, Bourne, would one day become a deity. It's all thanks to having such a good son." Persuaded by Luo Ao, Bourne no longer hesitated and tightened his grip on the darkness Divine Spark.
He sighed inwardly with emotion, preparing to begin refining the Divine Spark soon.
Refining a Divine Spark was not without drawbacks. If one chose to become a deity by refining a Divine Spark, future cultivation would be much more difficult. After all, that Divine Spark had not descended from the heavens and earth in accordance with one's own soul, and there were still fundamental differences.
It could be said that once someone embarked on the path of refining Divine Sparks, they were destined never to reach the pinnacle. At most, they would only become a Highgod who had refined Divine Sparks.
But neither Luo Ao nor Bourne paid any mind to that.
Was Bourne talented? Compared with ordinary people, he could be called a genius, having cultivated to the peak of the ninth level in less than a century. But becoming a deity independently, relying on himself? That was almost impossible.
Even with the various cultivation insights Luo Ao had previously shared with him, he had only barely stumbled across the threshold of Saint-level recently.
Moreover, even after successfully breaking through to Saint-level, he had only just reached the "Force of the Heavens and Earth" realm at the very bottom of Saint-level. He had not comprehended even the slightest trace of any elemental profound mystery, not even the most basic one.
And those geniuses whose talent far surpassed his, such as Gaspar, Gaspar's master, the Wind-Cleaving Sword Saint, and the Darren Empire's other three peak Saint-level experts-even people like them could remain trapped at the threshold of becoming deities for countless tens of thousands of years without breaking through.
Even for such geniuses, if a Lowgod Divine Spark were placed before them and they were told that they could immediately enter the Deity Level, then even knowing that future cultivation would become more difficult... presumably, the vast majority would still choose to refine it immediately.
Father hadn't comprehended even a single profound mystery of the Darkness Law before. He probably won't refine the Divine Spark very quickly, Luo Ao thought to himself, though he was in no hurry.
In any case, he had now become a deity in two elements, and his strength was comparable to a God's. Even if he encountered Miss Betty again, he would have nothing to fear.
Next, I'll continue fusing these two profound mysteries of the Elemental Laws of Fire. Once I hit a bottleneck, I'll leave seclusion and travel the continent. Conveniently, he could also remain at home during this time, protecting his father, Bourne, while he safely finished refining that darkness Divine Spark.
The Xiuyisi Mountain Range.
That day, a new Deity Level expert arrived there. He was the Dark Church's other Deity Level expert, and his seniority far exceeded Korno's.
"How could Korno have been killed? By Darren alone? With that bizarre profound mystery Korno comprehended, even two or three Lowgods surrounding him shouldn't have found it so easy to kill him, should they?" The middle-aged man who had rushed over was named Gu'en. His two thick brown eyebrows involuntarily furrowed.
He knew Korno's strength well. Though his ability in direct combat was nothing outstanding, his ability to survive and escape was absolutely first-rate among Lowgods.
"Darren alone could never have killed him. Who exactly killed him?" Gu'en's heart sank slightly. Korno had always been utterly lawless, and now he had actually brought such a formidable enemy upon the Church!
I wonder whether this person has a grudge against the Church or was simply acting on Darren's instructions. Gu'en stood there, filled with worry.
Though he was far older than Korno, he was inferior to Korno in strength, because he was merely a Lowgod who had become a deity by refining a Divine Spark.
And his becoming a deity had only been possible thanks to the return on his investment in a talented young man long ages ago. Otherwise, with his comprehension, he probably could not hope to become a deity even after another ten million years.
Mr. Xide swiftly became a deity in two elements before he was even a hundred years old. His strongest Divine Clone went to the Infernal Realm, while his darkness Divine Clone remained on the Boya Continent. But finding his whereabouts would be difficult... Gu'en's thoughts raced, and he recalled an incident from nearly a million years ago.
That young genius who had left everyone else far behind was probably already beginning to make a name for himself in the Higher Plane, the Infernal Realm, by now.
"Whether or not I can notify Mr. Xide himself, I should still try to inform the Shadow Courtyard about this." Gu'en had no intention of asking Mr. Xide to avenge Korno. He merely wanted to take precautions, fearing that the mysterious expert might come knocking.
Presumably, out of respect for Mr. Xide, even if the other party was a God, they would show him some consideration and reconcile with the Dark Church.