Chapter 444: Chapter 363: The Weight of Life

"Are you... one of us?"

A few believers stood awkwardly behind Duan Mingyuan, not knowing where to place their hands.

This man, who had suddenly appeared from nowhere, had snatched the torch used to trigger the ritual and demonstrated in front of them how to set up a summoning array.

However, demon devotees tend to attract each other, and they all sensed that Duan Mingyuan was not one of their own.

"That’s more like it!"

The Warlord, who had been anxiously waiting for nearly an hour due to a server issue, got excited again. Before dawn, he finally received some good news, sparing him from watching these useless ones fumble with infuriating tricks.

Duan Mingyuan ignored the believers’ questions and began to explain the reason for the failure of the summoning ritual, "Your steps were not wrong, but you missed the most crucial part. The energy in your bodies is the battery needed to sustain the summoning ritual. If you cannot charge the ritual, no matter how many times you repeat the steps, it will end in failure."

While speaking, all the complicated steps were completed, leaving only one last step.

—To charge the summoning ritual.

Under the fervent gaze of the demon devotees, the Hexagram Array was finally lit for the first time that night.

But the glow seemed odd.

It wasn’t crimson, but a mild aqua green, like the color of tender sprouts.

Fortunately, the subsequent shaking alleviated their uneasiness. The believers respectfully knelt on the ground, devoutly welcoming the supreme demon into their world.

This was also their first time witnessing the Warlord.

They were among the most brave and skilled fighters of the Void Demons, without a fixed form. The title "Warlord" was more of a symbol of honor, bestowed upon the most powerful demon among their kind.

The aqua green luminescence tore through the ground, and a pair of huge palms eagerly pushed apart the rubble, emerging from below.

After being exiled to the Land of Eternal Night for countless eons, the Void Demon had returned to the plane of reality.

Its purpose was to bring...hope, to this pitiful civilization.

?

When the Warlord’s upper body emerged from the ground, an unexpected thought surged through his mind, catching him off guard.

Hope?

Why would such a ludicrous word pop into its mind?

In the Land of Eternal Night, only the weakest lower-level demons would utter those words, earning merciless mockery from their peers.

And it, one of the Warlords of the Land of Eternal Night, was recognized as a supreme being.

With this in mind, its gaze flickered over to the believers crawling on the ground, who didn’t dare to move and were stealthily sizing up its face.

This actually reminded the Warlord.

Although they were aligned with the Void Demons in principle, their overly furious demeanor had already deprived them of any further value in existence.

The Warlord had already decided their fate—the first thing it would do upon arriving in the realm of reality was to grind these wasted beings into pulp.

In the Land of Eternal Night, the wasted needed... to be encouraged, to be carefully nurtured.

?

The strange thought appeared again.

Even its actions were inevitably influenced, the arm it had pressed down unexpectedly and uncontrollably helped the believers on the ground rise gently.

Immediately, a glow filled with life and hope descended upon the believers’ faces, and almost instantly, the chaotic dark energy within them was dispelled entirely.

And the Warlord witnessed a scene beyond belief.

Its arm’s skin was smooth and delicate, swirling with a greenish luminescence. When this shimmering light touched the ground, it revealed grass and flowers, creating a vibrant scene that left it utterly astonished.

"What in the world is this!?"

Instead of a thunderous war cry, a feminine voice filled with maternal radiance emitted from its mouth.

The huge battle-axe that had accompanied it through countless years of warfare was nowhere to be found, replaced instead by a staff made of fresh branches.

What was even more incomprehensible to the Warlord was the potent energy it felt from the staff, an item that appeared completely harmless yet was purer and more powerful than its former battle-axe.

It had instinctively mastered this energy it had never encountered before.

Wherever the energy reached, both living and inanimate things began to heal.

The first to be affected were the believers closest to the summoning ritual, their wounds and even chronic ailments healed under the purifying force of this pure energy.

More importantly, they felt an unprecedented tranquility.

Neither the Scorching Sun Power nor the Dark Energy had ever provided them with such calm.

This was the Sun Sanctuary.

The only concept the believers could think of was that mentioned in the scriptures, where the followers of the Ashen Church believed that their souls would return to the dwelling place of the Sun King after death. There, their minds would be purified, resulting in an indescribable liberation and solace.

This was the faith of all Ashen believers, yet no one could describe what it really felt like.

The Staff-wielding Squad, lurking on the periphery, was also stunned.

Minutes ago, they had received a report from Judge Yelena, claiming that a group of demon worshippers had been arranging a summoning ritual somewhere in the church district. However, when they arrived at the scene, they saw Mingyuan among the demon worshippers.

This left them hesitant.

Thus, they witnessed the complete process of the Warlord descending into the material plane.

Everyone was on high alert as the summoning ritual began, the ground splitting open; they were ready to fight to the last moment.

The Warlord chronicled in Genesis was not something they, or a Judge who had lost most of their strength, could contend with.

They could only try everything to stall this upper-rank demon until the Pope and other Judges arrived to encircle it.

But now, it seemed something unforeseen had occurred.

Instead of an upper-rank demon, the figure that appeared from the summoning ritual resembled the saints mentioned in Genesis. Legend had it they were devotees personally empowered by the Sun King, yet upon closer examination, there were clear distinctions from the saints.

"No, don’t——!"

The "saint’s" emotions seemed extremely unstable, her hands frantically clutching at her arms. However, this only allowed the incessant energy to penetrate faster into every corner of her body.

It was the Warlord.

A standout among countless Void Demons, acknowledged and blessed by the "King".

Its only purpose in coming to the material plane was to bring... hope.

Yes.

She must save those who were critically injured.

This was the purpose of her descent into the material plane.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read