Amon returned to the cavern outside and stored the prison box. He called Lin Li out to gather the myriad weapons strewn around the cavern. Most were damaged and broken, but they still emitted strong auras, though not as strong as the broken Light of Justice. Nevertheless, they would serve as quality weapons if he could repair them. He gave Lin Li a few battle puppets to help her gather the weapons.

While Lin Li performed the task, Amon returned his attention to the writings on the wall. He reread Yun Chao’s inscription for the Prey Absorbing Art, recontemplated what he had thought of before Dao Su interrupted him, and then began to put his thoughts into practice.

Yun Chao’s Prey Absorbing Art focused on stealing other cultivators’ energy to enrich his own. Amon didn’t want to go the same path. He reconfigured the Prey Absorbing Art, combined it with his old cultivation arts, and supported it with the insights of what he had learned till now.

He sat cross-legged before the wall. He didn’t move at all from that position. Even after Lin Li had completed the task and returned to the black space ring, he remained seated. He stayed like that for days. For sustenance, he ate nourishment pills. Energy continued to move around him haphazardly as he experimented with various methods. Sometimes, aether poured into him rapidly. Sometimes, it seeped out in large quantities. Another time, it moved about him without any discernible pattern.

After twenty-two days, he finally had a breakthrough. The cultivation art he had tweaked around could finally be put to use.

The cultivation art he had developed possessed the absorbing property from Yun Chao’s cultivation art. While Yun Chao’s art absorbed other cultivators’ aether, his art absorbed the surrounding elements.

A normal cultivation art absorbed either the natural aether or the infernal aether. Both were aether in their purest form. Aether that interacted with the environment transformed into elemental energies. Some elemental energies were mild, and some were violent. Elemental energies could be harnessed for multiple specialist jobs or for practicing arcane arts. Not for cultivating, though. Cultivating always only utilized pure aether.

Amon’s new cultivation art allowed him to absorb elemental energies and break them back into pure aether. This meant if he cultivated in a place that not only had dense aether but was also rich with elemental energies, his cultivation speed would double because he absorbed both the aether and the elemental energies.

He, however, could not absorb the elemental energies in the form of arcane art unleashed by others. He put this to the test by telling Lin Li to come out and attack him using her wind power. Though Lin Li’s wind assaults were not arcane arts, they were similar. Lin Li could manipulate the wind and form sharp wind darts to attack enemies from a distance.

Amon tried to absorb the wind darts thrown by Lin Li. He failed. It was not because the elements were violent. He couldn’t absorb even the gentle wind Lin Li used to help her fly. He concluded that he couldn’t absorb Lin Li’s winds because her winds already possessed a master, which in this case was her. He could only absorb masterless elemental energies from nature.

He pitied this fact. Otherwise, he would have accidentally developed an art that could counter any arcane arts. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Nevertheless, this cultivation art gave him a significantly higher improvement rate than his previous arts. Not only could it absorb natural elemental energies, but its absorption rate of aether was also much stronger. Additionally, he had developed this cultivation art so it could be used both for his divine and infernal cultivation. When he was using it on his normal energy core, he would absorb the elemental energies of the divine elements. Likewise, if he were using the art on his black energy core, it would absorb the infernal elements.

He named this cultivation art the Infernal Divine Absorbing Art. He had no idea what grade this art was or what the limit of the cultivation level he could reach with this art was. However, he estimated its grade should not be far from the Prey Absorbing Art on which he based it.

He immediately put this cultivation art to use. Though this cavern was a separate dimension, it took a chunk of real space. The real space was a place where a ley node containing the darkness element was located. Plus, this dimension was formed by an explosion of energy from that ley node. This entire dimension was rich with darkness elements. Furthermore...

Amon looked at the swirling blackness on the ceiling. That thing could be considered a giant ley node of the darkness elements. The darkness energies contained inside were astronomical.

This fact was another reason Amon developed the cultivation art to absorb elemental energies. If he could absorb the darkness elements of this dimension, it might weaken the gateway enough to let him pass through. This way, he killed two birds with one stone. He strengthened himself and worked on an escape path simultaneously.

Sadly, after using the cultivation art for several days, he realized one of his targets was unrealistic.

The Infernal Divine Absorbing Art did increase his cultivation speed by leaps and bounds, but it was not possible for him to drain the darkness elements of this pocket dimension, at least not within the time he wished for. He estimated that it would probably take thousands of years to drain the darkness elements swirling around the gateway on the ceiling.

He didn’t give up, though. He still had one more thing he could try. This was something he almost comprehended when he was on his way into this pocket dimension. He still remembered the sensation. He tried to make sense of it during the few days he absorbed the darkness elements using his cultivation art.

He couldn’t replicate the sensation, though.

He turned his gaze above again at the swirling blackness. This time, he stood. "No pain, no gain," he uttered.

His feet left the ground, and he floated toward the dark gateway. He could feel its intense power. It was stronger the closer he was. If he entered, he would again be ravaged by the violent energies inside. Not to mention, he wouldn’t get far even if he could survive like the last time. The energy flow was one-way. It only transported the things from the outside world into here. It never changed direction.

During his time here, he had seen this gateway spit out things. Mostly bones of the weird spirit beasts. Sometimes human bones or Hyanid bones were among them. The Hyanids out there most probably conducted more Worthiness Trials again.

Amon lifted his hand and stretched it toward the dark gateway. When the tip of his finger touched the swirling darkness, he felt like he was electrocuted. He pulled his hand back while wincing. He looked at his finger. The skin on the tip had peeled off.

He chuckled. "Well, as I said. No pain, no gain." He took a deep breath before jamming his whole hand into the dark gateway.

"Grrhhh...!" He gritted his teeth. This was no different from shoving one’s hand into a meat grinder. He could feel his hand being shredded inside.

Despite that, he refused to pull his hand out. He forcefully kept it inside. He also forced his mind not to focus on the pain. Instead, he focused on the sensation caused by having his body part enveloped by such a powerful darkness element. He felt its raw power. Its dreadfulness, its merciless nature, its indifference, and most of all, its ruthlessness. It devoured everything, even light. Nothing could escape it. When everything ended, it remained. In the presence of nothing, there was darkness.

The comprehension that he had almost grasped during his trip through the gateway returned. He couldn’t fully comprehend it previously because he was losing consciousness then. Furthermore, he had other things to be concerned about since he was under intense suffering and a seemingly inevitable demise. This time, he was prepared.

He pushed the pain to the back of his mind and focused all his thoughts on understanding the nature of darkness. What brought it into existence? What drove it? What was its purpose? He received no answer. Yet, even with these unanswered questions, he found himself closer to darkness. He felt that darkness was no longer an alien entity. He felt that he had understood it somewhat. Somehow, he knew that he could become a part of it if he chose to.

Suddenly, he heard a bell. It sounded odd. It sounded joyful. It was the last thing he expected to hear at this place and time. An enigmatic voice accompanied the bell. He could not discern whether the voice was male or female, and it sounded from deep within his mind.

"Congratulations! You have comprehended a law, the Law of Darkness. Do you wish to accept it?"