Damned Healer

Chapter 772 772: Warmth Of The World

Darian walked back calmly toward his group. At that moment, almost every gaze in the stands was focused on him. The Demons were full of hatred, the common spectators were amazed, and those from the universe's top 10 organizations were very curious about his limits.Darian felt slightly nostalgic. When he returned to Earth, he hadn't had time to appreciate that Rookie Tournament, consumed by guilt and anger after Lucy and Lucius had been hurt. Those memories made him think of Niara again, and how she supported him back then. He let out a deep snort; he needed to cultivate quickly so he could meet her again.

"Tieol has been avenged..." Pyreus murmured, relieved.

Darian turned to him and shook his head. "Not yet. Those idiots are just the tip of the iceberg. Soon, we'll deal with the ones from the top 5 who ordered this."

With those words, everyone clenched their fists seriously. No one doubted that he would make it happen.

With all the fights finished, the next draw began.

In that round, some from Darian's group were called to fight. Still, they were matched against opponents from those enemy organizations, so they gave up.

Now... several saw their names and got excited. They weren't people from those organizations, so they could finally fight.

Lazado, however, had a cold look in his eyes. His opponent was a beast he intended to kill at all costs.

Without delay, everyone moved toward their martial stages.

Each group had 10 disciples, so in theory, everyone would fight everyone else, for a total of 9 fights per person.

...

More than twelve hours passed.

During that time, every opponent who was matched against Darian simply gave up the fight, not daring to face him.

As for the 79 ordinary disciples in his group, they lost many battles, but... they only fought normal opponents who didn't dare try to kill them. Everyone understood what had happened to that disciple from the group who died earlier, and they had seen Darian's brutality in retaliation. Because of that, there was no need to go too far.

Even though most of them lost a lot, their excitement was obvious. That was because everyone managed to get at least one victory. Some won in an overwhelming way, others fought with everything they had and managed to win a bloody fight by the smallest margin.

They, who had never even dreamed of being in the top 1000, were now full of pride for having fought and won.

Gildor and the three Queens were the most excited. These young people had only had 19 months of real training, doing the tests and training Darian asked for; even so, the result was exceptional. If they continued to grow, their future would be limitless.

As for the six who had been directly trained by Darian...

All of them won every single one of their fights, and each of them faced at least one opponent from those enemy organizations. The results of those fights shocked the audience.

They attacked with 100% right from the start, doing everything they could to give their opponents no chance to surrender. As a result, they didn't just win, they actually killed their enemies.

They won without problems and returned safe and sound, except for Herion, who came back injured and covered in blood once.

He had faced a formidable opponent, someone who truly had the potential to even fight people from the universe's top 10. Herion managed to trade an injury for a chance to kill his opponent; the enemy hesitated and tried to retreat, which only led to a tragic end.

After that, Darian completely healed Herion, and everyone had energy recovery pills. So they were always in excellent condition to fight again.

After the six showed their power, the same thing that happened with Darian started happening to them. Their next fights ended with their opponents surrendering.

...

Hours later, when the light of a new day was already covering the arena.

The sound of a bell echoed. That Demonic Elder appeared at the center of everything and announced: it was the end of the second phase of the Celestial Tournament.

Without delay, he waved his hand, and in the sky, one hundred names appeared. Every name was accompanied by its organization, as well as its final score.

Among them... There were only 10 names with 100% victories. And out of those 10, seven came from medium-level sects of the universe, making everyone take a deep breath. This Celestial Tournament was turning out to be surprising.

Yes, Darian and the six he personally trained had passed to the final phase. Those six were ecstatic and in disbelief; not even in their wildest dreams had they imagined themselves in this position.

After the announcement, some people were celebrating, but others remained silent. Many people had been eliminated, so they couldn't feel happy.

Each person had their own dreams. Before coming here, everyone had longed for their future achievements, seeking glory for their organizations and their families. Being in the top 1000 was already incredible, but reaching the top 100 was very close now, and the difference in status would be enormous.

But reality was cruel, and glory belonged to only a few.

Some people couldn't accept their failure and cried on the ground. Their mentality was quite childish, even though some of them were thousands of years old. That was because their talent had been recognized since they were very young, so they were isolated from everything and forced to focus only on cultivation.

Because of that, most of them never matured mentally like a normal person; age never meant someone was wise or mature, after all.

"What a shame..." Vymara couldn't help but murmur when she saw those people crying.

Darian shook his head and sighed. "We don't have the right to laugh at people who did everything they could and still failed. Reality is cruel. Crying is just a way to release emotions, it doesn't mean they've given up..."

As soon as he said that, a beast girl nearby who had been crying stood up under countless looks of contempt and walked away.

"After getting hurt, after enduring the pain, after crying, it's time to wipe away the tears and move forward. Those destined to grow don't resent fate for being unfair, and they don't blame others for being indifferent to them. Even if this world hurts them ninety-nine times, they'll still dare to embrace it for the hundredth time, still believing this world is beautiful and loving it. Such people are true warriors, destined to rise one day."

Darian spoke while looking at that person's back. He seemed to see himself again on Earth.

Back then, he had also been hurt and cried. He had been completely isolated in the darkness, afraid of everyone except his family. At that time, he also couldn't see any light, but he still believed the world was full of sunlight.

The darkness in front of him wasn't caused by others blocking the sunlight, but by his own mind, which stopped him from seeing the light. The moment he stopped putting himself down and told the world to fuck off, deciding to fight with everything he had, everything around him changed; the dark clouds disappeared, and he felt the warmth of the world again. The condition was that everything depended on his own effort.

Darian's words moved everyone in the group. They enlightened them, showing a new perspective on the world. He was one of the youngest in the group, yet his gaze was like that of a transcendent sage.

The Darian at that moment felt like a completely different existence from what they had seen before. Just moments ago, he seemed like a demon king who had descended upon the world. Before that, he seemed like a simple human, someone everyone could talk to and even laugh with. The contrast between his sides shook their hearts. It was a feeling both dangerous and new, something that sparked everyone's curiosity.

Sometimes he was humble and polite, other times incredibly arrogant. When humble, he was like a modest scholar. But when arrogant, he seemed like a local rogue. They couldn't figure out what his true personality was.

Darian noticed those looks and snorted. His personality really did change a lot; after all, he had memories from many lives, in which he thought and acted differently in each one. In the end, it was all his. Everyone would probably be the same if they had the same privilege he had.

After the announcement, all the disciples in the Arena moved toward the hundreds of exits. The final would happen after 24 hours.

After passing through the corridor, they were led by a Demon to a teleport inscription that would take them to the city's residential area. The city was well divided; all the outsiders who came just to watch stayed in a region far away, so they wouldn't disturb the disciples.

When they arrived at their residence, Gildor, his wife, and the three Queens were waiting for them.

The five had indescribable expressions; even they didn't know what they were feeling. Reaching the top 1000 among so many was already unprecedented glory, and now... seven of them had actually made it into the top 100.

"You can celebrate," Darian said softly to those six while walking calmly toward his room.

Everyone took a deep breath. How could they celebrate while he was working? And besides… that young man's death right in front of them felt like a poisoned blade in their chests. The life of a cultivator was cruel, and anyone could die at any moment.

Even so… they tried to celebrate a little in his honor, promising that Heaven's Will would avenge him one day. Little did they know, that wish would come true literally, very soon.

After that, the six of them isolated themselves in their rooms to prepare.

Meanwhile... Darian focused on reading that Demon's memories.

After a few hours, he opened his eyes.

"Chaos Elemental Sect..."

Darian spat out the name of the universe's number five organization.

He had clearly seen everything in those memories. The Leader of that sect was the one who most wanted to obtain the inheritances that were now in the Golden Crow Sect. That was because this sect was made up of a special race that had the ability to learn and use any kind of technique or power.

They were technically Heavenly Elemental Spirits, but at the same time, they weren't. That was because they weren't born from the elements of life, but from the power of chaos.

Naturally, something like that was impossible to exist in any universe, even in the one Darian was in. The origins of that race came from before the war of the past. It was Darian's own father, the current Heaven's Will, who created the first Heavenly Elemental Spirit of Chaos.

That figure fought alongside him during the war. When everything ended, he founded this sect in the universe, creating a mechanism that gave life to other anomalous Heavenly Elemental Spirits like him.

The power of chaos was something primordial, the origin of all other energies. Because of that, every Chaos Heavenly Elemental Spirit could benefit from all the inheritances.

But the people of that sect couldn't simply take those inheritances and use them. To avoid raising suspicion, they needed a long-term plan... which was completely destroyed when Darian wiped out the Healers of Heaven Sect.

Darian was certain. The universe's number five sect was actually the biggest supporter of the cultivators of the Evil Path and had helped them over time to harvest those inheritances. Now they wanted them back.

"Great. Now I have a fat enough target to devour." Darian murmured slowly.

...

The hours passed calmly until the rest time finally ended.

Darian walked out of his room. Outside, everyone was waiting for him anxiously.

When Gildor and the three Queens saw Darian, they instinctively felt something frightening.

Darian smiled when he saw their reaction. Obviously, this Celestial Tournament wasn't going to end the way everyone expected. A storm was about to happen.

"Hehe, looks like things are about to get fun." Minril was the only one who felt excited, even after realizing Darian's intentions.

Without saying anything, Darian moved, and everyone left the residence.