Chapter 435: Perfectly

The entire small planet trembled, seemingly roaring in the face of the end of the world.

It was as if a hundred nuclear bombs had detonated simultaneously. The entire crust across a portion of the planet was ripped away and hurled into the atmosphere.

Space-time descended into absolute chaos for several minutes.

Priam floated between the sun and the planet, watching everything with a cold, serious gaze. Then…

[12 Celestial Marks Have Been Absorbed!]

[Assimilation of Acquired Knowledge:]

[Type 1: 97%]

[Type 2: 65%]

[Type 3: 95%]

[Type 4: 95%]

[Type 5: 88%]

[Type 6: 90%]

[Type 7: 100%] [MAX]

[Type 8: 80%]

[Type 9: 95%]

[Type 10: 85%]

[Type 11: 82%]

[Type 12: 95%]

[System Assimilation Evolved: Level 9]

[You can create 6 more Celestials!]

[Total: 18/24]

Priam’s eyes shone like stars as he read the notifications.

All twelve had died completely, without any chance of regeneration. On top of that, every type of Sovereign Manifestation had made a drastic leap forward. He’d just been a little unlucky not to reach 100% in any of the other types.

And to top it all off, his system had evolved, opening up room for new Celestials!

It was perfect. He had absolutely nothing to complain about.

After confirming the results, Priam turned his gaze toward the heavens. The next second, he burned through the God-Weaver bloodline, pushing it to its absolute limit.

*World Piercer!*

The fabric of space around him rippled into silver spirals, and then Priam vanished from that reality in the blink of an eye.

In the next instant, he reappeared in the void of space.

He was exhausted, still holding the Elder’s body. With a slight wave of his hand, his Flying Boat materialized in the void, and he jumped aboard.

Without wasting any time, he activated 100% of the vessel’s power, and the boat shot toward the distant horizon like a bolt of lightning.

…

Only several hours later, when the Flying Boat had safely reached the western region, did Priam finally relax his shoulders.

Inside one of the rooms, the Elder was submerged in a black liquid, thrashing around with his eyes bulging out of their sockets.

A few minutes later, the man’s gaze turned vacant. His mind had completely collapsed.

“This time, it was pretty quick. The inner sect’s pills are much more effective.”

Priam smiled faintly before quickly creating a memory-reading rune.

As soon as he extracted the target’s memories, he waved his hand and put an end to the Elder’s suffering, reducing his entire body to ashes.

Without delay, he took the entrance to the Secret World out of his Nexus Seed. Space expanded, opening a portal directly to his planet.

“Bro!”

Meien dashed out of the passage, her face filled with apprehension.

She looked Priam up and down, and when she saw that he was perfectly calm and hadn’t suffered a single scratch, a deep, visceral sense of relief washed over her.

“How are they doing?” Priam asked casually.

Meien swallowed nervously and nodded. A dazzling smile bloomed across her face. “They still haven’t even processed what happened. They’re all ecstatic, exploring that planet. The Primordials have already started preparing their Technique.”

“Great. Take care of the boat. We’re heading back along our original route. I need to look into something.”

Priam spoke calmly as he walked over to a corner of the room and sat down. He wanted to examine all of the Elder’s memories in detail and find out whether he’d overlooked any critical details.

Meien quickly made her way to the Flying Boat’s controls. Once they reached the southern region, she’d need to follow the safe route back to the sect’s planet.

Several hours later, Priam opened his eyes and let out a long sigh of relief.

First, he confirmed with absolute certainty that he hadn’t left any loose ends behind. That sect firmly believed its domain was inviolable, so they hadn’t bothered developing any underhanded methods to track him down.

After that, he devoted himself to meticulously analyzing every stage of the physical refinement and nourishment process. The Elder had studied that method countless times, and now, all that knowledge belonged entirely to him.

Priam had completely memorized the Paragon Art: The Heavenly Devil’s Physical Refinement.

And that wasn’t all…

Priam took the spatial ring he’d seized from the Elder and retrieved a small violet-colored box from within.

A golden circular mark gleamed on top of the container. At its center, the slot where a seal should have been was completely empty.

With an excited, crooked smile, Priam lifted the lid. Inside rested a small, ethereal Violet Lotus.

At that very moment, in the distant control room, Meien’s eyes widened.

A pulsating violet light and a terrifyingly powerful, anomalous aura burst into the air. However, everything vanished a second later.

Priam stored the treasure directly inside his Nexus Seed, then destroyed the magical box without leaving a trace.

What he’d obtained was the pure essence of the Sacred Lotus—a direct fragment of the supreme treasure that gave the Pure Lotus Sanctuary Sect its name.

It was an Artifact originating from another world, acquired by an Immortal in ancient eras. The relic could be divided into up to three independent essences, allowing portions of its power to be projected across three separate fronts.

In short, the Sacred Lotus was an absolute mind-control tool that could be used in two different ways.

The most basic application could infiltrate a target’s mind with extreme ease, completely subjugating them.

This was precisely the method the sect intended to use against the Pristine Primordial Wild-Spirits. The Elder would capture them and use the essence to induce a state of perfect apathy in their minds, ensuring they could be refined without any loss.

After all, when any being had its very life force forcibly refined, it would experience excruciating pain for an extended period, leaving its soul and mind chaotic and aggressive. As a result, ordinary refinement was never perfect, wasting a large portion of its original potential.

However, with their minds under control, the Pristine Primordial Wild-Spirits would enter a deep trance, feeling absolutely nothing throughout the process. In the end, they would die peacefully, without pain, while the sect extracted 100% of their value.

The second method of use, on the other hand, required the essence to be slowly nurtured by the user’s mind, transforming it into an overwhelming emergency weapon that could be used just once in combat.

Once the main Artifact was divided, the individual essences completely lost their connection to one another. Therefore, if one fragment was stolen, the sect would lose that portion of its power forever.

That was why the violet box had contained that seal. Whenever they divided the essence, they stored it inside the container, making it traceable and nearly impossible to tamper with. If anything unusual happened, the Sect Leader could activate the seal and locate the box immediately. But…

When the Elder had made contact earlier, the sect’s Leader had confirmed that everything was under control and remotely removed the seal. With the seal no longer active, all its protections vanished, turning the magical box into an ordinary object.

In other words, everything had come together perfectly. Of course, things had only worked out this way because he possessed all the necessary tools and knew exactly how to use them. Even if someone else had everything he did, they wouldn’t necessarily achieve the same result.

‘I’ve gained an incredibly useful Paragon Art, a bloodline with enormous future potential, and, to top it all off, this essence…’

Without wasting any time, Priam began nourishing the Violet Lotus essence with his own mental energy.

Since it was a consumable resource, he could unleash it without hesitation in a moment of crisis. After exploding and incinerating his enemy, everything would evaporate without leaving a trace.

After reviewing all his tangible gains, Priam took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.

Deep in his heart, he knew that none of those gains could surpass the immeasurable feeling of having saved the Pristine Wild-Spirits.

‘I did it…’

The painful memories of the past, which had once burned like open wounds, now seemed softer, their anguish gradually easing. Luvinah’s death hadn’t been in vain—her footsteps and sacrifices had literally guided him straight toward this great victory.