Death... and me

The three of them quickly shot through the skies, leaving the city and disappearing into the distance.

Meanwhile, deeper where the devils had control, there were a few ruins from the time the Essence Race roamed these continents. It was only one of the many that could be found everywhere in the central region. This one, in particular, wasn't that big compared to some in more prominent areas.

In any case, the fact this place was still part of the devils' territory didn't matter since anything of value had been taken away a long time ago. That said, these ruins haven't received any visit other than the occasional demon beast for a long time. Devils might appear here once in a while if they were passing by, but they wouldn't dwell here either.

Still, it was exactly in these ruins that a young man walked through, checking the several broken inscriptions and pictures on the walls, seeming to be looking for something. Now and then, he would take a jade slip from his Pocket Dimensional Realm and record a few things before moving to the next part.

A few hours ago, he had received a call and couldn't understand what was being said. However, since he was busy, he simply told whoever called him that he was busy and turned it off. Since the other side didn't try to call him anymore, he immediately considered that whatever was the topic wasn't very important. If it was, they would try to call him many more times. This man, obviously, was the one known as Zandolf, a Divinity Realm expert at the Middle Stage!

Time passed, and Zandolf seemed to get somewhat impatient. 'Hum... I can't be wrong, can I? I'm pretty sure the clues lead to these ruins. Still, I can't seem to find where it is...'

Just like Rean's group, Zandolf was also interested in the Essence Race. He had been investigating it for a long time already. Unfortunately, due to the tight control of the devils, he never had the chance to enter the devils' territory. The devils had done their homework and made sure experts of the Divinity Realm would be found straight away once inside their territories.

However, that wasn't the case anymore. The Realm of Gods' armies had already got rid of such surveillance. Even if it was still in place, it would be simply telling that many Divinity Realm experts were in their territory now. The Devils didn't need surveillance to know about it. Those Divinity Realm experts were at the very forefront of their armies, after all.

For Zandolf, the war was of little concern. Sure, if he could choose, he would take the devils out of the Realm of Gods. But he wasn't that fervently pushing for a cleanse or anything like that. He helped the war efforts by taking command of his army and choosing a passive instance in this Glondau Continent. He could also be said to be one of the reasons why Glondau hasn't been conquered yet, considering how easy it was to attack. Not that the other armies cared much about this place anyway.

The main reason for him to choose this place was these specific ruins. He had always heard how the Essence Race was blessed by the Universe, capable of cultivating faster than anyone else. Being stronger than anyone else. However, he firmly believed that their cultivation speed wasn't due to their nature only.

It was during some of this research into old records that Zandolf found a peculiar mention. In a Jade Slip that had almost cracked due to its age, he had one chance of seeing a mention of an Essence Race being that almost succeeded in surpassing the Divinity Realm!

One can only imagine how surprised Zandolf was. Everyone knows that the Divinity Realm is the limit of the Lisan Universe. Still, almost all the Peak Divinity Realm experts of Lisan continued to look for a way to surpass this barrier and reach new heights. After all, beings like the Hyeoumu, which was known for being above such limits, existed. There were also theories that if one gather the Universe Foundation Fragments and uses them, one could surpass that limit, too.

Others believe that the Chaos Origin Source could give them such a chance, although no one knows how to get to it.

To Zandolf, the latter two ideas were completely out of reach. To start, no one knows where all the fragments are located. The ones that are known to exist are already in the hands of Peak Divinity Realm experts, with some being outside the Realm of Gods. For Zandolf, who is only at the Middle Stage of the Divinity Realm, acquiring such fragments is simply out of the question. Even if he managed to miraculously acquire the fragments from those beings, where would he find the rest? That said, he never paid much attention to any information regarding the fragments, nor did he care. If anything, they would only bring him endless waves of problems.

What about Hyeoumu? Zandolf was even more skeptical about that monstrosity. Can that really be considered a being of the Universe? Perhaps it is something entirely different. As for the Chaos Source, without any clues, he didn't even know where to start.

That's why he looked and researched for other alternatives. His effort paid off, and he found out about this event regarding the Essence Race. Was it true, was it not? Zandolf couldn't tell for sure. Besides, it only mentioned that the Essence Race Being 'almost' succeeded. He didn't really manage to do it. Nonetheless, it was a lot more realistic than any of the other options.

'All paths lead to the ultimate dao. There is no such thing as the wrong path, just the wrong methods. Even if that Essence Race being failed, he might have truly stepped on something. I need to find his secret...' Zandolf thought. During the many years of war, he had used much of his resources to research the Essence Race, and he eventually ended up in these Ruins. It's just that he didn't know what it was.

As Zandolf looked for these clues, a group of three figures sneaked into the devil-controlled territories, carefully making their way to these same ruins.