Chapter 415: Sacred Yin

When the trio left the Alchemy Palace, they returned to the center of the plaza, where the teleportation inscription was located.

Dandara gave Nise a few quick instructions before dismissing her. The young woman left with her face still pale and her mind completely confused by everything she had witnessed.

Then, Dandara firmly took Priam’s hand and smiled knowingly. More than anyone else, she knew the truth: Priam was the supreme Principal Disciple of the entire sect.

Earlier, one of the Disciples of Law had personally come to instruct them about the rules and had given Priam a secret message detailing his unique privileges. Dandara had already explained everything to him.

As the Principal Disciple, Priam could take absolutely any resource he needed from within the sect without paying a single penny—points meant nothing to him.

Obviously, there was a limit, but that quota was so absurdly vast that it was comparable to that of a Central Elder. Trying to compare his financial capacity to that of an ordinary disciple was simply ridiculous.

Besides... Priam’s authority surpassed that of any ordinary inner Elder. The universal rules governing disciples didn’t apply to him, and practically any request he made would be treated with extreme seriousness by the sect’s higher-ups and granted whenever possible.

All of Priam’s major contributions to the sect in the past were now showing their value. He had barely arrived, and he was already like a king among commoners.

However, despite all these colossal privileges, his identity couldn’t be revealed publicly. That was why the Golden Elder from earlier had discreetly warned him: he only needed to contact an Elder directly, and any request would be handled without drawing attention.

Side by side, the couple headed toward a specific palace.

The place was popularly known as the Pixie Sanctuary. Despite the name, that beast race didn’t inhabit the building. The complex had been built long ago by the Sovereign Goddess herself, and the Pixies had an intrinsic connection to its structure.

The place’s official name was the Sacred Yin Palace, named after the similarly named Magic Art created by the goddess.

Essentially, the palace served as a training and meditation center focused on studying this Magic Art—a legendary technique capable of brutally amplifying a Sage’s combat power, and compatible with practitioners of any class.

However... only women were capable of performing it.

The reason was simple: the technique required burning Yin energy to generate devastating bursts of power. Men possessed negligible Yin reserves; if a man tried to activate it, he would die within seconds once the effect wore off.

Women, on the other hand, although they would become temporarily exhausted and weakened after burning their Yin, could survive and naturally recover their reserves after a short period of time.

Officially, the technique was classified as a Divine-class Magic Art. But there was one crucial detail: it contained nine stages in total, and only the first three belonged to the Divine class.

Starting from the 4th stage, it reached the Immortal-class level.

The Pixies were connected to this place because, strangely enough, despite being ordinary Beasts, they could all use the technique up to the 8th stage. However, the cost was supreme: they could only unleash this power once in their entire lives, dying immediately afterward.

Since Pixies were naturally a peaceful race, there were no records of any of them ever resorting to such a resource. It was an ancient legend recorded in the sect’s archives from the era when the Sovereign Goddess still existed.

As for the 9th stage, it was the supreme pinnacle created by the Sovereign Goddess herself and left behind in the palace in the hope that, someday, an extraordinarily talented woman would be able to master it. However... to this day, not a single Sage in the entire history of the sect had managed to pass the 3rd stage, let alone reach the 9th.

Nowadays, there were only three figures in the entire sect capable of using the technique at the 2nd stage, and only one who had mastered the 3rd. The difficulty of assimilating it was simply insane.

Even so, the palace was constantly packed, because understanding even the basic concepts of the technique brought immense benefits to any woman.

Why had Priam come here?

The answer was standing right beside him, holding his hand. Almost everything in that sect had some connection to Dandara. As the reincarnation of the Sovereign Goddess herself, if there was anyone in the world capable of understanding and mastering all the secrets of this place, it was her.

Priam obviously had no intention of learning the technique himself, since he was a man. But he had brought Dandara here because strengthening her was the same as strengthening himself.

The couple finally approached the palace, stopping a few hundred meters away. The building stood atop an imposing hill, accessible only by a monumental stone staircase.

The staircase itself already functioned as a training formation, forcing the Yin within living beings to withstand overwhelming pressure. Many women came here solely to meditate on the stone steps.

Because of this, the stairs were almost completely packed. Female disciples from all corners of the sect sat in every available space, their eyes closed and their minds in a deep trance, leaving almost no room to pass.

Although they maintained a minimal distance from one another, the tension in the air was palpable.

Every individual present there altered the flow of the area, causing the pressure to fluctuate. Any sudden movement or abrupt change in someone’s energy acted like a rock thrown into a calm lake, creating waves of disturbance that affected everyone nearby.

This constant variation made it difficult for everyone around them to focus.

As a result, arguments and verbal fights were routine among the women trying to study. However... physical combat was strictly forbidden in the vicinity of the palace.

The sect’s Elders continuously patrolled the area, ready to severely punish anyone who dared throw a punch. Insults, provocations, and verbal abuse were allowed, but actually attacking someone was an inviolable taboo.

Indifferent to the tense atmosphere, Priam and Dandara arrived with calm steps and began climbing the stairs without the slightest hesitation.

Men were allowed to pass through the area up to the palace. If they were insane enough to spend a huge amount of time and energy learning a Magic Art that would burn away their lives in exchange for a single use, the sect wouldn’t stop them. But obviously, nobody was stupid enough to go that far.

As soon as the duo stepped onto the first stair, their combined presence caused a fierce disturbance in the pressure of the area.

Most of the female disciples opened their eyes with murderous expressions. And when they noticed a man walking around so comfortably, their fury escalated into outright madness.

"Are you out for a stroll with your whore or something?!"

After climbing a few more steps, a Sage with an imposing aura turned around, her face twisted with disgust as she roared.

"You disgusting clown, get the hell out of here!"

Upon hearing the second part... Dandara didn’t even wait for the woman to finish breathing. She let go of Priam’s arm...

*SLAP!*

Like a crack of thunder, Dandara’s hand slammed straight into the unlucky woman’s face. The impact was so brutal that the woman was launched off the stairs, dragged through the air before plummeting dozens of meters below, creating a cloud of dust as she crashed into the ground.

Silence immediately descended over the stairs.

The victim was a prominent Sage, known for her tyrannical behavior and unbearable temper. Although she wasn’t feared by everyone, nobody liked getting into trouble with her. Since she had never imagined she could be attacked in the middle of the palace’s staircase, she had been completely off guard and could only accept her fate of becoming a human projectile.

"What a fucking loudmouth..." Dandara mocked with pure disdain, wiping her hand with a cloth, an expression of disgust plastered across her face.

Then, she turned around and intimately grabbed Priam’s arm, wearing a radiant smile.

"Damn you! You’re courting death!"

The woman rose from the dust, spitting blood and completely consumed by rage. She charged toward the staircase, ready for a fight to the death, but stopped just before crossing the boundary line of the palace’s area.

All the disciples on the stairs reopened their eyes, snorting in sarcastic anticipation. Attacking inside the sacred area meant a heavy punishment.

They waited...

And waited...

But time passed. Several seconds slipped by in an awkward silence.

Nothing happened.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! WHERE’S THE ELDER?!" the woman roared, in complete desperation and outrage. "Fighting is forbidden! Why hasn’t that bitch been punished?!"

"SILENCE!"

A sharp and majestic roar echoed from the top of the temple. An Elder appeared on the palace rooftop, glaring down at the staircase with a furious gaze.

"You’re the only one causing a commotion here. Raise your voice one more time, and I’ll ban you from this palace for a hundred years."

The eyes of everyone on the staircase nearly popped out of their sockets.

"What?! That makes no sense at all! She was the one who provoked me and attacked me first! She should be punished!" The Sage was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The Elder merely snorted inwardly, mentally preparing herself to come up with whatever flimsy excuse she could.

Obviously, she wasn’t going to lift a single finger against Dandara, because it was painfully obvious that she was with Priam. The young man was the Principal Disciple—even the Central Elders had no direct authority to discipline him, let alone an ordinary inner Elder.

Realizing the Elder’s implicit protection and the woman’s desperation, Dandara let out a mocking, malicious little laugh, thoroughly enjoying the absurd power of her "privilege by association."

"Ugh, I hate seeing indecisive people..." Dandara taunted with a terribly sadistic smile, tilting her head to the side. "If you think I provoked you, why don’t you come up here and attack me already? Don’t be such a coward."

Dandara puffed out her chest proudly, straightened her posture, and resumed walking beside Priam, holding his arm.

The disciples on the stairs looked back and forth between the Elder and the couple, completely dumbfounded and unable to understand what was happening.

In absolute silence, the crowd simply made way as Priam and Dandara calmly climbed the stairs, entering the Sacred Yin Palace.