All those traitors who were fishing in that river got caught by Darian and Niara. After checking their spatial rings, they found that each of them had at least a dozen crystals. To have gathered that many, it was likely those traitors had arrived in the World of Life many days ago.

Inside their rings, Darian also found a set of inscriptions marked with Celestia Academy's power. These items were the Summoners' ticket out of that place.

When their companions' thirty-day stay in the universe ended, they'd use those inscriptions to leave all at once. That was the only way to exit that world—by being transported directly to a secret location, where the academy's High Elders would burn resources to bring them back to the galaxy.

Everyone from Celestia Academy had one of those items. Those who came without knowing the truth probably got hunted down and killed before they even realized what was going on or tried to escape.

As for the traitors, they didn't plan to leave without first gathering as many resources as possible. Darian's plan was to pressure them until they got scared, because if they kept going after treasures on their own, they'd end up dying for nothing.

That way, they definitely wouldn't leave. After all, they were counting on the Risen and the Beasts of that world as allies. All they had to do was gather them and launch a counterattack against the "invaders."

After storing all the loot, Darian and Niara followed the river downstream. It wasn't worth fishing for more crystals—they'd already gotten an absurd amount. But Darian still tried hard to find a Heavenly Elemental Spirit. He didn't want to destroy this place and kill those innocent lifeforms.

Even after walking along the entire length of the river and feeling everything around, he didn't find a single one—maybe the ones that were there had already been taken.

"This river's one of the three greatest natural treasures this planet had in the past. You could say we've taken everything we could from it. Let's move on."

Darian muttered, and Niara nodded, spreading her wings and flying toward the center of the region.

Along the way, Darian explained to her: his new body, after reaching the third ring, could freely change shape to disguise itself. But that came with a huge drop in power, which was dangerous in case of a surprise attack.

By using the rings on his wrists, Darian easily nullified the lake's poisonous yin. That's how he managed to go in disguised and make everything unfold as planned.

The two moved forward, dodging all kinds of spatial blades. The closer they got to the center, the stronger and more frequent the attacks became.

In less than two hours, the scenery changed.

They saw a huge black swamp up ahead. In its waters, there was a flickering, corrupted glow. At times, a strange mist would rise from that area, making the vegetation nearby light up brightly. It was a bizarre phenomenon.

Niara instantly felt that flying over that place unprepared was dangerous. If they fell into the swamp, they'd be dragged straight to the bottom.

Darian carefully examined it. He quickly figured that, in the past, that area used to be a pure sea full of life, but now it was partially corrupted.

Just smelling the air was enough to make anyone dizzy—it was like countless corpses had been rotting there for years.

Even without breathing, the corrosive aura tried to seep into their bodies. It acted as a barrier, preventing Summoners and their partners from entering the region. But the corruption was only on the surface—the deeper parts of the water were cleaner.

That's why Darian noticed lifeforms below—marine beasts. Since they weren't fully exposed to the corruption, they'd managed to adapt and survive without turning into Risen. They probably also had natural resistance to corruption. Beasts like that weren't exactly rare—the Abyssal Corrupted Wolves were an example.

Since Darian had absorbed the karma of all the recent deaths, he now had a decent amount of white power again. But his accumulated black power was massive—for the first time, he had over ten times more black power than white.

Niara took a deep breath, and her scales changed.

By activating the White Armor, Niara could fly safely over the swamp. But the amount of white power they had wasn't great, so they had to be careful and leave that region fast. Or… find new sources of karma to devour.

Niara flew quickly toward the center of the swamp. There was black sludge everywhere, giving off a corrosive aura.

After an hour, they finally reached the swamp's center. When they looked back, they could no longer see the other side.

Darian was already feeling a lot of karma coming from nearby lifeforms, so they decided to keep going. The deeper they went, the thicker the corrupted mist became.

Suddenly, Niara stopped, surprised. Beneath them, an island had appeared in the middle of the swamp.

They landed on the ground. As soon as they moved, the mist over the island began to clear, revealing a world of vegetation and flowers.

There was a pure, sacred forest there. Giant vines hung from the trees, whose leaves covered the sky. Even so, the forest wasn't dark—there was a strange type of grass that gave off its own light, illuminating everything around.

Small animals ran through the forest. They didn't seem scared of the duo—on the contrary, they watched them with curiosity.

"This cursed swamp hides a paradise. What a surprise." Niara couldn't help but smile.

Darian, on the other hand, was excited. With just one glance, he spotted tons of rare herbs and precious plants.

He could recognize them all thanks to the knowledge he'd gotten from Athven. Those items were priceless treasures — not even in the entire universe, in ancient times, had there been things as good as these.

The main reason those things had been born on that planet was the influence of the World Tree that lived there. The natural energy of the universe was automatically drawn to wherever Athven was, and over time, any place would turn into an extreme natural paradise.

But... everything being gathered in a single small island? Yeah, that definitely wasn't natural.

The answer was obvious: that place was home to the Beasts that lived in the World of Life. Since they had too much free time, they went looking for the best leftovers they could find and brought them back to that island.

The two of them were thrilled when they realized it. All they had to do was harvest everything there, and most of that world's treasures would be in their hands.

But... Darian and Niara weren't thieves or murderers... most of the time. They moved calmly through the island. First, they'd check out these beasts. One look from Darian into their karma, and he'd decide if it was fine to kill and steal freely or not.

The place wasn't big. In about half an hour, Niara stopped when she saw and sensed something terrifying ahead.

In front of them was an open arena, with barely any vegetation. They saw small nests and lots of beasts living peacefully. It was definitely a city for beasts of various races.

But at the very center, there was a single tree, only ten meters tall. Its entire body was pitch black, and its leaves had a blood-red hue. Just looking at that tree made a person's soul tremble.

"Celestial Demonic Tree," Darian recognized.

He explained it to her. It was a natural species that always appeared in sacred forests. It was like the laws of the world trying to create balance, placing something sinister in the middle of purity. Any lifeform that got near the Celestial Demonic Tree would be attacked and have its body and blood devoured.

At the same time that it was insanely dangerous, once it had fed enough, it would produce an incredible treasure called the Celestial Blood Fruit. That fruit was the number one treasure in this place.

But... both Niara and Darian felt something more — something off.

"This tree is dead... it has no soul," Niara muttered, her eyes narrowing as she quickly figured it out. "These beasts are just using the body and powers of the tree, kinda like what they did with Athven."

Darian nodded. The Celestial Demonic Tree was radiating power, with small fruits hanging from its branches, almost ripe.

What kind of 'nutrient' had they fed to this tree?

Knowing that the Beasts here had made a deal with the Risen and were their enemies, everything became obvious — they didn't even need to check their dark karma. Every Summoner who hadn't betrayed their kind and had been sent to this world... had clearly ended up in the hands of these beasts.

And judging by how radiant the tree looked, it had definitely feasted quite a bit recently.

Niara scoffed, and her body shifted into the Black Armor.

In the same instant, everyone on the island felt a terrifying killing intent fall upon them. What little light there was seemed to vanish, and every beast felt like a hammer had just slammed into their chests.

Their eyes shot to the sky — and there, they saw a black Dragoness staring down at them coldly.

"Stop!" Suddenly, a thunderous voice echoed out.

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