CHAPTER 497: IMPORTANT DISCOVERY

The portal opened, and a dark, thick fluid — well known to everyone in that universe — started pouring out. It was Miasma, and there was no doubt about it.

Inside that array, there shouldn’t be any Risen. Enfield had built everything meticulously, and even if they tried to get in and somehow did, the moment their fluctuations were detected inside, the whole place would self-destruct.

So they’d been forced to come up with a plan: send traitorous Spiritual Guardians to leave just a bit of their corruption and will there, using the locals for their purposes — without showing up themselves.

At that moment, Darian took a deep breath, activated his senses, and scanned the interior. In a few seconds, his eyes narrowed.

"The interior stretches for hundreds of kilometers... it’s completely stable, and there are a lot of people. But there’s no Risen inside." Darian said and waved as he used white power to try to purify the Miasma.

Niara snorted, a little relieved there was no Risen, but certain that Miasma only appears from a direct Risen’s power. So at some point, one of them had been here and did this.

Then... Darian was surprised — because he couldn’t remove it. It was like trying to purify something of an extremely high level.

He sighed and cranked up the white power drastically. Still, the Miasma didn’t budge; it had definitely been created by a Risen Lord, or something close to that.

People couldn’t pass through that dense Miasma. They’d be corrupted, and he wouldn’t be able to purify them afterward.

Darian didn’t give up. He remembered something, then started manipulating white power in a different way. He concentrated that power to the max for a few minutes, creating a small pulsing rune. This was an idea he’d had long ago but never tested.

He poured more and more white power in until he reached the maximum concentration inside a rune. Then he made several of them. Finally, he placed them in a circular formation at the center of the Miasma-choked portal.

The runes connected and pulsed in sync. At that moment, the Miasma finally trembled. Darian smiled, satisfied with himself.

Basically, Darian was using an energy-manipulation technique inside a runic formation. It’s an extremely laborious way to use power — impossible to do in the heat of combat — but it amplifies an energy’s effects for very specific uses.

After several minutes of total concentration, manipulating the white power, the Miasma slowly began to dissolve.

Darian exhaled deeply. The level of that Miasma was terrifying, and he was curious which Risen could have created it. But thanks to years of study and experience, he’d managed something that would’ve been impossible before.

He’d learned and lived a lot in those years; he wasn’t the immature youth who only relied on will and that book’s knowledge anymore.

"Let’s go." Darian moved in and entered first. That place shouldn’t exist, so he’d investigate thoroughly.

Stepping through felt like passing a black wall — and to everyone’s surprise, the other side was shockingly clean and free of Miasma.

They looked around and saw that the entire edge of that small world was covered by a massive black curtain. But it seemed controlled and didn’t affect the inside much.

Focusing on the spot they stood, it was arid land with no sign of life. Still, it wasn’t dark, because in the center — dozens of kilometers away — there was a colossal mountain, and on its peak shone an intense yellow light.

"Master, I feel siblings nearby!" Awel said seriously, pointing back toward the curtain of Miasma.

Darian’s eyes widened. He couldn’t sense anything there.

Everyone moved quickly to check.

When they approached the Miasma, they saw and felt nothing. Turning to Awel, she had a pained expression and squinted her eyes.

She stepped forward, a few centimeters from touching the Miasma. She breathed in and pointed at a precise spot, then looked back at Darian.

He nodded and used his white power again, recreating the runes. Now that he’d done it before, the process was much faster — and he managed to fully purify the Miasma at that spot in a circle. Then...

"!"

Everyone was stunned. There, before them, were six small pulsing runes grouped like a formation. They all gave off a fire-like aura, but there was something different — corrupted fluctuations mixed into their energy.

They were, without doubt, Heavenly Elemental Spirits.

"Master, they’re meditating deeply. They’re not in pain, and they don’t seem in danger... but I don’t understand why," Awel said quickly, because she knew Darian and that he always prepared for the worst.

Darian took a deep breath, somewhat relieved. He could feel the presence of many White-Blooded people in that spot; if they were using the Heavenly Elemental Spirits for something sinister, he’d slaughter them in the worst way.

"Think you can connect with them?"

Darian asked, and Awel nodded. He moved his hand, gently touching her head, then transferred the ring’s power to her.

Awel began to glow intensely and focused on the six runes. Everyone waited in silence for nearly an hour, until...

Suddenly, the six runes trembled and pulsed with a fiery light. Darian immediately got serious — he felt something off. The corruption in the aura of the six was gone...

...as if they had purified it themselves.

Then, they floated up and left the formation. Soon after, they all used metamorphosis. Five male figures and one female appeared — all looking like young human adults.

They instantly looked at Awel, then at the others with surprised expressions that quickly turned into shock.

"W-Who are you?" one of them asked seriously.

"Brother, we came from outside. We just entered this place..." Awel replied right away. But all six were completely focused on Darian, not even blinking.

Darian snorted, confirming what he had only suspected before. Lucy also carried the blessing of Heaven’s Will, but everyone there ignored her and focused only on him.

Apparently, since he was a missionary directly tied to Heaven’s Will, his blessing had an effect a thousand times stronger than the others’. All Heavenly Elemental Spirits — or even the purest Celestial Beasts — felt an instant connection to him.

Darian spoke calmly, "Can you tell me what you were doing?"

The five snapped out of their daze at his words and nodded quickly.

"We were purifying this world from corruption, Sir," one of them replied.

The Miasma was, of course, a type of power rooted in corruption that spread through the air — weaker than the direct corruption from a Risen’s attack, but still a form of low-level corruption.

Darian listened seriously. He had never heard of anyone other than himself being able to purify corruption completely. "This corruption... do you know where it came from? And who caused it?"

One of them nodded. "According to the records left behind, it was Sir Enfield. He created this place a thousand years ago. It used to be just a small hideout, but he used his power to stabilize it and turn it into our home. However, this corruption also stayed... we don’t really understand why."

Niara swallowed hard. She and Darian understood right away. In the past, when they encountered the will of the Divine Dragon, they were told that she and Enfield hadn’t died in that battle where they had gravely injured the Celestial Shadow.

Worse — that will had said with certainty that both had been corrupted, becoming a kind of terrifying Risen.

In other words... exactly a thousand years ago, the corrupted Enfield finally acted and created that place for some unknown reason. Since he had made that Array, he probably knew a way to operate inside it without being detected — though with major limitations.

Of course, he couldn’t remove those limits, since his old self wasn’t stupid and knew there was a chance he’d be turned into a puppet. So he must’ve set things up to make sure he couldn’t be used to open the place.

Darian took a deep breath. Now that he knew the Miasma’s origin, he felt excited. Ever since he discovered his white power, he had been able to purify Miasma and corruption — but with limits due to his strength. If it came from a higher-level Risen, it had always been impossible.

So far, he hadn’t had the chance to test how much of Risen’s corruption he could actually purify. His power had increased drastically — and not just the six rings; everything about him had been enhanced and multiplied countless times.

Now he had confirmation: even though it required great effort, he was already able to purify the power of someone at the level of a Risen Lord... or maybe even higher, since a Primordial Beast turned Risen wasn’t exactly common.

"Who taught you how to do that?"

Awel asked, her eyes shining. Technically, she, Tir, and Eleri were no longer Heavenly Elemental Spirits — but now, with so many of that race alongside Darian and living in that universe, learning such a technique would be incredibly useful.

One of the figures turned to her and replied, "It was Sir Enfield himself."

Niara and Darian were stunned. He had created all of this and left the Miasma behind — likely under the Celestial Shadow’s orders — but also taught them how to purify his own corruption? It was like teaching your enemies how to kill you.

"Can you take us to the others? We need to hear every detail and learn everything you can tell us," Darian asked seriously.

Something very strange was happening... but he felt he had just uncovered something important — something that might lead him to a unique opportunity.