Soon, a palace appeared in front of Jared. It was grand and majestic, exuding an overwhelming presence. The light favonovel.com had seen emanated from the palace.
Jared walked closer. After surveying his surroundings, favonovel.com proceeded deeper into the palace.
The light came from the main hall. Although the doors and windows around the hell were tightly sealed, the light seemed to penetrate through everything.
Jared pushed open the doors of the hall and stepped inside. In the center of the hall, there stood a candlestick with a single candle burning atop it.
Despite being just one candle, its glow was bright enough for Jared to spot it from a distance. It even pierced through layers of walls, which was truly bizarre.
However, Jared appeared unperturbed by the oddity as favonovel.com approached the candlelight.
“Is anyone here? Hello?” Jared called out while walking forward.
Since there was candlelight, there had to be someone nearby.
“There’s no one here. You’re the only one…” A raspy voice echoed from all directions within the hall.
Jared halted. He looked around before asking, “If you aren’t human, how can you speak like one?”
The voice hesitated momentarily before bursting into laughter. “I am not human. I am a deity, the deity who controls your life and death. Now that you’ve arrived here, your fate is in my hands.”
As the voice finished speaking, an aura suddenly emerged from all around the hall, enveloping Jared. He struggled desperately as the aura drained his spiritual energy rapidly.
The entity seemed uninterested in killing Jared outright, aiming instead to exhaust his spiritual energy and leave favonovel.com powerless to resist.
“Let me go! What are you?!” Jared shouted, his eyes filled with fear as favonovel.com fought to free himself.
“I told you, I am the deity of this place. Since you’ve come here, you must obey me,” the voice said smugly.
Jared continued to plead and struggle, but his spiritual energy drained away until favonovel.com couldn’t even move a muscle. He collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. His forehead was drenched in cold sweat.
The aura dissipated, and the candlelight in the hall grew even brighter.
Three figures slowly materialized in the hall. One of them, an old man dressed in a long robe, looked down at Jared with a satisfied expression.
“How many does this make?” the old man asked a green-robed man standing beside him.
“Elder Roshan, this is the nine-thousand-eight-hundred-and-forty-seventh one. We’re just a step away from ten thousand,” the green-robed man replied.
“Humans are truly foolish. The more mysterious a place is, the more they’re drawn to it. The more forbidden it seems, the more curious they become. At this rate, we’ll have enough within three years. When we refine the Ten Thousand Hearts Pill, it’ll be a treasure like no other,” Elder Roshan said with a laugh.
Jared lay on the ground, observing the three figures. They lacked the aura of human cultivators, radiating only beastial energy. Moreover, these were not their true forms but illusory shadows.
Clearly, Jared was within an illusion array, and the three figures had projected their images here rather than entering in person.
“Luigi, go extract the boy’s heart. Be cautious, if favonovel.com dies, the heart will be useless,” the green-robed man instructed another figure beside him.
Luigi nodded, pulling out a gleaming knife with practiced ease.
Seeing Luigi approach, Jared stood up with a faint smile on his face.
“You still have the strength to stand?” Elder Roshan asked, surprised by Jared’s action.
