Chapter 344: The Heart-Stealing Demon

After eliminating the threat posed by the Church of the Three Glorious Gods, Donald and his companions abandoned the completely destroyed camp and returned to the site near the mage tower. With readily available supplies, a new camp was quickly built.

Donald felt a constant sense of dread regarding the sacrificial object related to the Lord of Dawn in that secondary artifact, the Book of Purgatory. However, recklessly touching the divinity within this artifact would immediately draw the attention of its divine owner.

Of course, Donald wasn’t foolish enough to confront one of the most powerful true gods in this world head-on right away. At the very least, he needed to reach the level of a true god before he could stand a chance of resisting them!

That’s why he immediately sent this semi-artifact into the World of Truth, using its divine rules to confine and isolate it.

Artifacts were extensions of the powers of true gods. Even though the Book of Purgatory was only a secondary artifact with a trace of divinity within it, the strength of a higher god’s divinity was incomparable to the powerless divinities he had encountered before.

Resolving this threat would require considerable effort. For now, he could only block the divine owner’s senses and deal with it once they left this place.

After the camp was built, Donald gave a quick greeting to his teacher and Carlisle before entering the World of Truth to deal with that secondary artifact.

In the World of Truth, bathed in the light of endless divine laws, the silver book—created by a powerful higher god from another dimension and intended to become the realm of a supreme god—drifted above the City of Wisdom, struggling against its bonds.

But it was merely a secondary artifact. Even with a trace of a higher god’s divinity, it couldn’t withstand the oppressive power of an entire divine realm’s rules and break free. Moreover, this realm was still incomplete, with no true god in control.

With a wave of his hand, Donald used the power of the Book of Truth to summon the Book of Purgatory before him. The divine light within it continued to twist, seemingly furious at being suppressed by a mere mortal.

Donald chuckled softly.

“If it were outside, there might still be a chance to escape, but now we’re inside the Land of Truth. Not to mention a mere minor artifact like you—even if a lower-tier god were here, their power would still be restricted by the rules of this divine realm, forcing them to obey me. How much more so for you, a minor artifact with just a trace of divinity?” With that, Donald reached out and took the Book of Purgatory, which had been struggling in anger moments ago but now seemed lifeless under the restraint of the light from the Book of Truth. He ordered its core to conduct a scan.

Soon, the Book of Truth reached a conclusion that astonished him greatly. This Book of Purgatory, or rather a part of it, was another form of purgatory created by the Lord of Dawn, modeled after the Abyss, using a natural demi-plane as its foundation. In the hands of its believers, it served as a tool to defeat and imprison rival powers. But Donald knew that in the hands of the Lord of Dawn, this minor artifact would undoubtedly serve a completely different purpose.

Because what he had was merely one page of this artifact, yet its core was extremely powerful, and the materials used were far rarer and more precious than those of ordinary minor artifacts. Thus, Donald quickly realized that there was likely more than just this one piece—the Book of Purgatory might consist of multiple pages or fragments. Once certain conditions were met, they could be combined into a complete artifact. Judging by the strength of this single piece, the complete Book of Purgatory would likely be a powerful artifact at the level of a medium-tier or higher! After all, an artifact could have an immense impact on a true god, almost determining the outcome of a war between gods.

An artifact is a manifestation of divine authority, possessing a portion of a true god’s power. When held by such a god, that power would be amplified even further. Whether it’s an artifact that complements one’s own domain or one related to another aspect of divine law, artifacts are extremely important to true gods, forming a vital part of their strength.

Especially for those true gods who already possess a primary artifact tied to their own domain, they place great value on artifacts from other domains. For if they acquire new artifacts, they can transcend the limitations of their own domain and master the laws of other areas. Some true gods have even gained insight into other domains through certain artifacts, thereby elevating their divine rank and significantly enhancing their strength.

Thus, the benefits of a true artifact to a true god are immeasurable. Even powerful higher-tier gods never stop pursuing more artifacts.

“This method of breaking down a divine artifact into lesser artifacts and then giving them to subordinates to nurture and refine in order to extract energy is highly effective. Perhaps I can do the same and obtain a more powerful complete divine artifact!” Donald couldn’t help but admire the creativity of that deity. However, he was more interested in applying others’ good ideas to himself for greater benefit.

Additionally, while scanning and analyzing the Lesser Artifact, the Book of Truth, there was an unexpected discovery. Inside the demi-plane space of this Lesser Artifact, there was actually a living being. It was called a being because, although it appeared human in appearance, Donald could easily tell from certain characteristics and soul fluctuations that it was not human at all, but rather a humanoid demon, or a soul-devouring demon. Donald had previously learned about such demonic creatures known as soul-devourers or spirit-suckers, but this was the first time he had seen this rare race.

Since the creature seemed to be quite comfortable in this so-called Space of Glorious Purgatory, it should be able to survive for now. So Donald didn’t rush to bring it out; instead, he planned to resolve the hidden dangers within this artifact first.

According to Donald’s understanding, if the Abyss was the source and end of chaos and evil, then the Space of Glorious Purgatory created by this Lesser Artifact was a pure aggregation of the laws of light. Apart from infinite brilliance and scorching heat, there was no other type of energy in this space. By analyzing its spatial structure and the application of its laws, Donald realized that this space was called Purgatory because it was indeed a terrifying prison. If those trapped within failed to devoutly convert to the Light and become followers of the Lord of Dawn, they would be reduced to ashes by the endless brilliance, suffering immense pain before their souls and bodies became nourishment for the growth of this Purgatory space!

Even in terms of matter, the Purgatory consisted only of pale ashes formed from the dead bodies of heretics and unbelievers exiled there—showing just how many beings this Purgatory space had destroyed!

“This forced method of compelling beings to believe in oneself through life and endless suffering, if known, would surely alert other gods. But if mages who pursue free will like our teachers found out about this, their attitude toward the Church of the Three Glorious Gods, especially toward that god, the Lord of Dawn, would likely become even more hostile!” After obtaining the analysis results, Donald’s first thought wasn’t the value of this space, but rather the terrifying coldness and wisdom of the Lord of Dawn.

“The existence of such a purgatory space essentially relies on all living beings outside its followers as nourishment. Those souls suffering agony often unleash greater power, which helps sustain the growth of the purgatory space and stabilize its rules. If those trapped in it lack firm will or, out of necessity, choose to believe in the Lord of Dawn, it also boosts the church’s strength significantly.”

“It’s a win-win situation—no matter what, it’s the Lord of Dawn who benefits.”

The more Donald thought about it, the more terrifying the Lord of Dawn seemed to him.

Judging from this sub-divine artifact in his hands, it was clearly just one fragment of such a purgatory space. At least four more sub-divine artifacts of equal rank were needed to combine and form a true divine artifact.

If these sub-divine artifacts accumulated enough power over hundreds of years and their essences were combined with space, not only would a powerful divine artifact above intermediate level be created, but also a space as formidable as those of higher gods.

“It seems the Lord of Dawn intends to merge this space with his own divine kingdom and use its power to elevate his own divine rank—a strategy similar to what the former owner of the Book of Truth used.”

Considering also the secret rumors heard by Amps from the abyss—that the Lord of Dawn wanted to bring all gods under his rule and even strive for the supreme position of the ultimate god—Donald realized that this god not only had a ruthless determination to achieve his goals at any cost but also possessed extremely ambitious plans!

However, the Lord of Dawn’s plans were doomed to fail. One of these artifacts had fallen into Donald’s hands and could never be returned. Whether it was because the artifact’s material value alone equaled that of an ordinary low-tier divine artifact or out of consideration for the Lord of Dawn’s attitude, in any case, even if the Lord of Dawn accepted his apologies, he could never give back this sub-divine artifact to the Dawn Church.

After all, he had already killed many members of his own church. Leaving aside whether their relatives and friends would take revenge, they would at least not treat him kindly. As for his many secrets, if discovered by anyone connected to the True Gods, his fate would be grim. Moreover, accustomed to freedom, he would not want to join the Church of the Three Glorious Gods, which resembled the dictatorial regimes of his past life. Perhaps the churches of the True Gods Jerome, the God of Justice and Warriors, and Behistan, the God of War and Judge, had a relatively more relaxed environment, but the God of the Glorious Dawn undoubtedly held dominant power within the Church of the Three Glorious Gods. The Church of the Three Glorious Gods was called an alliance, but in reality, it functioned like a deity hierarchy, with the other two True Gods enjoying relative freedom. To break free from the control of the God of the Dawn, the only path was to stand against it! Fighting against a powerful supreme god was undoubtedly not a wise choice.