Damned Healer-Chapter 528: Even Scarier

Darian arrived alone and quietly on a rocky, completely dead planet inside the Milky Way.

Right after arriving, he entered a natural cave where a concealment inscription had been set up beforehand. When the whole inscription was activated, he saw the void open, with two figures appearing.

"Sir!"

Caliris and Aurix appeared and quickly kneeled.

Darian scoffed, motioning for them to stand.

Caliris lifted her gaze, then spoke in a monotone voice: "First, Sir, do you know how someone with nine rings manages to break through and become an immortal?"

He shook his head. He'd always been far from that and never bothered to learn, since he was sure it'd be something dangerous and extremely complex. But now that he had so many people with nine rings at his side, he'd eventually need that information.

Caliris explained in a very direct way.

There were three major barriers someone with nine rings needed to break; in the first two, failing meant death. In the last one, the person would have serious problems and possibly lose a lot of power if they failed.

The first step was impossible to complete in the Universe of Heaven's Will they lived. In the training universe, it was also extremely hard. In other words, everyone needed to take advantage of a mission in another universe to attempt it.

It couldn't be a mission below Rank A, because the universe in question needed to be high-level and have a massive amount of Qi available.

Basically, after reaching nine rings, the power of the ring gained a very subtle ability to control Qi. It was like drilling through a rock using only the natural flow of water. It was possible, but it took time and required effort.

It depended almost totally on talent. Spiritual Guardians needed to move Qi into their rings, fusing the power of the ring with the Qi. Once they completed the process, it'd be possible to alter the rings with Qi, just like with Merit Power.

Then the nine rings would break, giving birth to an Immortal Core. In that process, roughly 90% of people failed before reaching the end and died in an explosion of blood.

But that wasn't even the biggest challenge.

After creating the Immortal Core, the second stage began. The heavenly laws would react to that attempt to rise above them. Then... a *Heavenly Punishment* would fall on the person.

Caliris's tone subtly changed, revealing a bit of fear. This Heavenly Punishment was the power of the heavenly laws moving to destroy that being; 95% of its energy was furious and deadly, but 5% of it was considered a beneficial power.

Of the few who reached that stage, maybe 0.1% survived. That way, their Immortal Core would be completed, and their soul would reach a level of power above the heavenly laws. From that point on, the person officially became an immortal.

Then came the third stage.

The body of someone born mortal couldn't withstand an immortal soul. Besides surviving the Heavenly Punishment, those 5% of beneficial power needed to be fully absorbed by the body and used perfectly to improve its physical capability. That way, the body would change from mortal to something semi-immortal.

Of course, already having a powerful body made the process simpler and easier. Doing it completely from zero in the middle of the Heavenly Punishment was almost impossible, and very few succeeded.

In the end, if the body didn't reach an acceptable level, it would simply die, and the immortal would lose that body forever. Their only option would be to find a new one, since, being above the heavenly laws now, they wouldn't be taken to reincarnation, much less lose their memories.

The easiest way to do that was to find a pregnant woman, before seven months for a human, when there still wasn't a soul in the body.

Then they could restart in that body from the beginning... which would make them lose many things they had gained with effort or luck during their journey; in the end, they would probably become weaker than before.

Darian listened to everything carefully. He didn't understand the entire process, but he knew a lot about Heavenly Punishments, as well as the process of raising bodies to the level of withstanding immortal souls. That book described that in detail.

The current Heaven's Will, in a distant past, had been the number one enemy of the universe's laws. While trying to rise, the world wanted to kill her at all costs, and a Heavenly Punishment was the weakest challenge she could face.

There were three types of attempts from the heavens to kill someone. The weakest was the *Heavenly Tribulation*, where only the weakest died, while the smartest used it to get stronger.

Then came the Heavenly Punishment, truly meant to kill, although it still had a little bit of power that could benefit the person.

Finally, there was the *Heavenly Annihilation*. When one of that level appeared, even the planet where it happened, and all life in a wide region around it, were in danger. It was a brutal attempt to kill a single person at all costs, even if it destroyed everything around.

Darian read in that book how that strange figure survived countless Heavenly Annihilations, creating survival methods and learning about them. That's why Darian had a lot of information that possibly nobody in countless universes could even imagine.

"Sir, I discovered something important recently", Caliris continued.

"It looks like humans from Earth, with the same characteristics as you, Sir, don't go through that body-incompatibility problem. I got reports that, in a recent Rank S mission, three humans from Earth went through a Heavenly Punishment together, and after that, there wasn't any sign of rejection or any change in their bodies. It was like they were already perfectly compatible from the start. Three of them are going through it together, which should be impossible. Added to the fact that Earth is known for having strange people... everyone's pretty sure that earlier info must be correct."

Darian nodded. Heaven's Will had created that new type of human on Earth. Now he understood the advantages they were given.

This was only discovered now because Earth had never produced an immortal before. It was absurdly rare, even on the most powerful planets.

After Caliris finished everything, Aurix finally added:

"Sir, not sure if you know, but those blessed by Heaven's Will have a huge advantage in this process. They can move Qi more easily; plus, the Heavenly Punishment drops in level... making it way easier to survive."

Darian's eyes shifted in understanding.

Aurix nodded, "All the Spiritual Sovereigns, and pretty much all the Immortal Keepers in the universe, got the blessing of Heaven's Will at some point; that's why we managed to reach this level. But after becoming an immortal, we lose the blessing completely."

Darian sighed. In other powerful universes where cultivators existed, they went through a lot of processes where their bodies and power increased with some kind of balance. Because of that, they could surpass Tribulations and sometimes even Heavenly Punishments.

But Spiritual Guardians were different, with their central power coming directly from the soul. When turning into a Spiritual Guardian for the first time, the true body changed and got stronger. But after that, unless they used techniques and resources, they could reach nine rings with pretty much the same physical level from the start.

And even on the strongest planets in the universe, with insanely powerful physical Bloodlines, like in Vadise, it was still hard for Spiritual Guardians to survive that. But the blessing of Heaven's Will changed everything.

Darian asked: "Logically, since blessed people keep appearing in the universe, and people keep reaching nine rings... even if only 0.1% succeed, there should be tons of immortals, right? Why have I only heard of like a dozen?"

"That..." Caliris took a deep breath.

Aurix continued, "Sir, you're right. After becoming an immortal, theoretically, the person can try to become a full Spiritual Sovereign, or just enjoy their immortality without taking risks. But... Immortal Keepers exist and are considered enemies of the universe for a big reason."

He looked at Caliris; she nodded and said: "There's a simple method for full Spiritual Sovereigns to absorb all the life and Immortal Core of the weaker ones. I've done it hundreds of times myself. It increases our power really fast."

"Obviously, they die completely after that, not even their soul lasts to reincarnate later," Aurix continued seriously, with a disgusted look.

"That's why, after becoming an immortal, everyone gets a target on their head. The strongest Spiritual Sovereigns hunt these people. But to keep everything from turning into chaos, a rule was set: whoever becomes an immortal gets a hundred years, in this universe's time, to try to turn into a full Spiritual Sovereign. Or everyone will devour them. Panitia and I are probably the only ones who never did that."

Caliris spoke coldly: "The Immortal Keepers came into being to go against that rule. They band together and live hidden, protecting each other, so they won't be devoured."

Darian snorted. That explained why Immortal Keepers were treated like a plague: the Spiritual Sovereigns who controlled the universe painted them that way to make their lives harder. But in truth, they were just people trying to survive.

Panitia was the weakest of them, not only for being the youngest, but also because she didn't hunt those people. Aurix, on the other hand, was one of the strongest even without doing it, because his race was insanely terrifying. If he did it, he'd definitely be number one in the universe.

As for Caliris... she was definitely greedy, bloodthirsty, and without any scruples. Darian knew that from the first time he saw her. But thankfully, now she couldn't do anything besides obey him; thanks to Remira's help.

Darian seriously pondered all that info, understanding the huge problem.

First of all: the blessings of Heaven's Will would probably be used on selected people... certainly, given to the Wube family. After they discovered that humans from Earth were abnormal, with the blessing, the chances of new immortals appearing would be massive.

Then, with many immortals popping up on Earth quickly... Darian would be completely doomed. Even if he did everything to evolve fast, it would be impossible to survive.

But the second problem was even scarier.

Now that the Spiritual Sovereigns discovered Earth was special for creating immortals, what would stop them from using the Wube family to create more and more immortals on Earth, just so they could devour them later?

There was no turning back anymore; all of Earth was in danger of becoming a farm for those people.

One thing intrigued Darian. Now that they knew all of this, the three Spiritual Sovereigns could simply join forces and kill him. Even if other powerful allies came to help and a massive calamity happened, if they managed to keep Earth intact, it would be worth it.

But they chose to follow the rules he imposed... people like them wouldn't do that without a big reason.

Unfortunately, Caliris didn't know the reason. She was just as terrible as the other three, but she wasn't allied with them and always acted on her own.

Darian felt a chill in his spine. He was missing extremely important information.

At that moment, Aurix revealed the reason he also came to talk to Darian.

"Sir, in a few days, something known to all Spiritual Sovereigns will happen in my universe. It has a direct connection with everything we talked about."

Darian turned to him, curious, telling him to continue.

"My universe is a very ancient place. In it, there's a planet where something terrifying was built. I was only able to visit that place when I was accepted by the universe and fused with the Immortal Chaos Essence. But... even being one with the universe and having all my power, I still don't know exactly what exists there."

Darian's eyes changed. Something at that level, above an immortal... it could only be...

"Wait? Did you see some kind of book or something like that?"

Aurix widened his eyes. "Y-yeah, on that planet there's something called the Temple of the Golem God. I managed to force my way in and see inside. At the center of everything, I managed to see a book... but I couldn't take even a single step closer than a thousand meters from it."