Chapter 392: Completely Evolved
"Vice-Leader Darian, you made us abandon our homes, and now we’re cowering like turtles. We’re just retreating without really fighting! We’ve got almost two hundred thousand elite soldiers — why waste the chance to attack?! What’s your plan?"
"You forced our patriarchs to bring every resource and person into your sect, and now you’re enjoying everything and leveling up so fast... that’s kinda suspicious, isn’t it?"
Dozens of angry voices rose up, then hundreds.
With Darian’s apparent inaction over the last fifteen days, frustration had built up and exploded. The crowd — geniuses, veterans, and powerful clan figures — demanded answers only Darian could give. After all, he never discussed things; he just issued orders that couldn’t be questioned.
Remira and the nearly two hundred thousand elite soldiers flushed with fury.
"You idiots, are you asking for death?!" Zatrian roared, drawing her sword.
A big shot, level nine, bellowed: "Can’t we ask questions?! If the sect’s vice-leader isn’t guilty, then explain yourself! We need a reason to trust him! What’s wrong with wanting the truth?"
"If you don’t explain, it just proves you’re hiding something. Our patriarchs have been acting weird lately, totally out of character. Did you do something to them?!"
"Exactly, this is a sinister plan!!"
The shouts kept coming, accusations growing louder. The enraged crowd had already labeled Darian a conspirator.
Everyone who’d learned the Chromaraic Cataclysm was furious; their trust in Darian had been rock solid. The accusations stung them, making them wonder if risking their lives for these people was worth it.
Suddenly...
"Silence."
Darian looked at the crowd and spoke flatly. It wasn’t a thunderous roar, but it hit everyone like lightning.
"To be honest, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. If you’d kept quiet, I’d have lost my patience first," Darian said, indifferent.
Tiny white and black runes flowed around him.
*Vupt!*
In an instant, Darian appeared in front of the powerful figure who’d been yelling.
He reached out and grabbed the man by the throat. The Order Law and Darkness Law runes moved with him and invaded the man. The guy panicked — his body and mind fell into chaos, unable to resist.
Nearby people roared in rage:
"What... what are you doing?! You’re going to kill to shut people up?! As expected, your conscience is dirty!"
"Let him go!"
"Your scheme’s been exposed, and now you’re ashamed! You think you can kill whoever you want, you bastard?!"
The crowd erupted in curses, but Darian stayed cold. Murral and several clan leaders and patriarchs quickly arrived, drawn by the commotion.
"Vice-Leader Darian, don’t you think you’re going too far?" a patriarch asked sternly — an old man who’d still refused to leave his home and harbored resentment.
Darian looked at him calmly. "I don’t think so."
With an unexpected move, Darian drew his dagger and stabbed the man he was holding in the chest.
"NO!"
The man didn’t stand a chance; everyone gasped at Darian’s action.
But... he plunged and withdrew the dagger quickly. Instead of blood, a white light emerged from the wounded man’s body.
The light expanded, and Darian smiled. He scooped it up with his hands, showing a pure, radiant Yang mark that had been in the man’s chest.
"What?!" the patriarch screamed, shaken.
The most powerful present went pale — they instantly felt where that mark came from. It was definitely the Radiant King’s work.
Remember, there were two Radiant Kings: Radiant King Dohans (level nine) and his deputy (level one). That rune probably came from the latter.
"He’s a spy. He and many others infiltrated the crowd to spread lies and incite revolt."
Darian spoke and released the man, pushing him toward the patriarch who’d just spoken.
The patriarch grabbed the man by the throat, face unreadable: "Fezey... I considered you my own son! My eyes were blind!"
With an explosive fury, the man detonated into a bloody mist.
Darian looked at his elite soldiers — no more words were needed.
The void trembled; multicolored lights wrapped the crowd and the whole plaza.
All the elite soldiers activated Chromaraic Cataclysm and, with their powers, surrounded the figures who had shouted and cursed.
They’d been quiet earlier because they trusted Darian. But he’d logged everyone who dared speak. They were from every clan—nearly one hundred thousand in total.
Darian revealed where the white mark sat inside them. The soldiers focused their power there, but didn’t kill.
Those people screamed in terror and pain, unable to resist. Indeed, they all bore the same white mark. Everything was sealed.
Darian had set this up some time ago. Deliberately, he’d told no one. By forcing them to abandon their lands, he created the perfect chance for those individuals to act and stir discord on a believable basis.
But... the white mark inside them wasn’t placed randomly. It could be triggered in a chain and make the traitors explode. If Darian had tried to capture them in a blunt, straightforward way, they all might’ve died at once.
So Darian used the list of traitors he’d collected and gave it to Remira. Quietly, she had the patriarchs bring as many of those named people to the plaza as possible at the same time.
It was easy—they wanted to gather and wait for Darian to start the chaos.
Knowing two-thirds of them were there already was enough. Then Darian exposed them by surprise, and his soldiers seized them with full force, sealing the mark inside each one.
"Take them all to the dungeons. Now we have a huge source of intel on the enemy through them," Darian ordered calmly, then turned to Remira: "As for the other names... give them to the patriarchs; they must be eliminated quickly."
She nodded; a cold light passed over the captives. They would not be allowed to die: their souls and memories would be slowly read until everything they knew was uncovered.
Murral and all the patriarchs watched Darian, breathless.
With a subtle move, he’d perfectly baited them into the trap, eradicating the clans’ traitors while keeping many alive — the gains would be immense.
***
After all those events, the alliance of the Divine Seven-Star Sect and the clans started rising like dragons soaring into the skies.
For three months, everything stayed calm.
Until the enemy army attacked the old headquarters of all the clans. Just like before, the inscriptions had been left half-active, but almost everything inside was empty.
The enemies weren’t dumb enough to waste their time on an empty place again. That’s when Darian took the chance to strike directly this time.
In one of the clans, when the defensive inscription was broken, they found out Darian’s army had been waiting for them.
With a direct and overwhelming strike, a huge enemy force was suddenly wiped out. After Darian absorbed the primordial cores, they immediately returned to the sect.
Even though they could attack all enemy armies, they couldn’t show too much power — just enough to prove they could handle part of them.
After that, the enemies started focusing their attacks straight on the sect and its three big cities.
Every few weeks, a new attack would happen — sometimes in just one place, sometimes in all four at once.
But no matter the tactic, they were always defeated — partially or completely.
It didn’t take long for the alliance to also start hitting small enemy cities, wiping them out suddenly, looting all resources, and vanishing right after.
The enemies couldn’t believe what was happening. Those cities were deep in their own territory, surrounded by other cities close enough to give support. But it all happened so fast... like the alliance knew exactly how and when to strike.
Soon, with every new defense and counterattack, everyone got plenty of resources, while Darian absorbed countless primordial cores.
He never hesitated, though he always acted with extreme caution. He was sure the Radiant King Dohans was still wounded after what happened in the Wild World, and wouldn’t bother moving just because a few small cities were destroyed.
It was the other Radiant King who was commanding everything, and he was Darian’s only real concern.
That’s why Darian only moved when he was sure that guy wouldn’t make it in time. On top of his instincts and care, the karma around that figure was insanely heavy, which made it easy to sense any ambush or shady movements.
Darian didn’t even realize it, but... after years of living on the edge, forced to give his all day and night just to think and act, he wasn’t that immature kid anymore, nor the strategist who always screwed up in the end.
He had matured in every sense, completely evolved. By now, even Meru would be proud.
***
A year went by fast.
Until, after another successful strike, the green screen appeared.
[Congrats, your primordial core has evolved!]
[Core Category: Supreme]
His second evolution had come, making him fired up. When he got back to the sect and absorbed all the resources...
[Current Status: Dark Saint]
[Primordial Points for next realm: 9,500/10,000]
[Level 9 Reached]
[Reward: +1 Random Enhancement]
[UP] [Order Law +12]
After three years in the Heavenly World, he was finally one step away from breaking into the last realm, so close to completing this Trial.
Since the moment he set foot in this world, everything had been intense. But now, he was closer than ever to seeing his family again. Sadly, there was no time to celebrate.
He suddenly got an emergency call and, as he stepped out...
"Report!" a scout said, tense as hell, "The central army, the strongest one the enemy has, is on the move! Their vice-commander is leading the troops. They’re heading straight for the sect for a full-scale showdown! Estimated arrival: just six hours from now!"
Darian snorted. He had done everything to keep the enemy from being able to properly measure their real strength.
He had only hit about a dozen small cities and always beat the armies strategically, leaving some survivors alive to spread the word about what happened.
Since Radiant King Dohans’ goal wasn’t to destroy them, and since the enemy still didn’t know exactly what was going on, they hadn’t launched a total assault for a whole year... but finally, the time had come.