Chapter 741 Heaven and Hell

In Chief Valar's eyes, the man before him was the epitome of perfection, radiating breathtaking beauty from head to toe.His eyes were filled with a wisdom unattainable by dwarves; his figure was tall, like a towering mountain, exuding a noble aura that could only be admired from afar.Unexpectedly,the man sat down heavily on the ground, making even the dwarves seem taller than him."What's your name?" Li An asked.Valra was startled. The other man spoke a language not belonging to the underground dwarves, yet he could understand it; the mysterious feeling was akin to a divine miracle.He was certain he had encountered a god."My name is Valra," the chieftain replied in his own language.Li An nodded slightly and asked, "How many years of history do you have?""Years?" The chieftain shook his head. "Our tribe doesn't have that concept. We only know that we've survived twenty-nine eternal nights.""Eternal nights?" Li An raised an eyebrow.Valra lowered her head and said, "The earth is covered by endless snow and ice. Even a thousand meters underground, you can almost hear the snow and ice surging in your ears. That's the long howl of the Goddess of Death. Some monster must have angered heaven and earth, causing such a disaster.""When the snowstorm rages, time underground becomes blurred. To conserve resources, we don't even light our furnaces. So our world has no light, only endless darkness and the never-ending howling of the wind.""We force ourselves into a deep sleep because our bodies consume the least energy when we sleep. But many still can't survive the eternal nights because the food we prepared in advance wasn't enough.""It's a sad thing, but the dwarves have no choice."Li An nodded slightly, then suddenly changed the subject and asked a rather peculiar question."In the eternal night, would you feed on the corpses of your own kind?"Upon hearing this, Valla trembled, hastily replying, "My lord, we dwarves would never do such a thing! To eat one's own kind would turn one into a vengeful ghost in the shadows! To live in hell! Never to find release!""Therefore, dwarves would absolutely never eat the corpses of their own kind! Absolutely not!"Li An exclaimed in admiration, "Truly a highly advanced civilization."He then asked, "Do you wish to go to Heaven?""Heaven?" Valla's eyes lit up instantly. "Is it the place where the gods live?""You could say that," Li An nodded with a smile.Compared to this planet with its extremely harsh living conditions, the human realm and the immortal realm are practically heaven!A glimmer of hope appeared in Valla's eyes. "There are endless, green mountains," she said, "warm sunshine, and a vast ocean. All kinds of beautiful life soar in the sky, leap among the mountains, and swim in the sea!""That's the legendary paradise.""But..." Valla suddenly sighed.Li An frowned. He thought that Valla shouldn't know what his place looked like. Having grown up on a planet without a sun, how could she know that a sun existed?And she had said "but.""But what?" Li An pressed."But paradise is dead, and the outside world is hell," Valla muttered to herself, head bowed."Who told you that?" Li An frowned.A hint of reminiscence flickered in Valla's eyes as she said, "It was the Goddess.""She was bathed in a soft golden glow, disliked wearing shoes, was very, very white, with even whiter hair that reached her waist, pointed ears, and beautiful eyes. She looked very much like you, except her ears were much more pointed. She always carried a beautiful scepter, and could travel as far as she wanted in one step. She helped us through an eternal night, bestowing upon us many wonderful things, such as wine and the magic to turn metal into food!""She was always very sad. She said she was a scavenger like us, and her world, once heaven, had now become hell."Hearing this, Li An roughly knew the other's identity.The Elves, the race closest to the Heavenly Dao, were created by the Old Heavenly Dao from pure elements. They possessed innate, immense power. The ancestor of the Elves, now known as the Holy Spirit, was the one who launched the first attack on the Old Heavenly Dao.The Elves possessed the ability for limitless growth and unparalleled learning ability.The Holy Spirit was unafraid of the Thirteen Kings, for these inherently flawed beings posed no threat to the perfect beings like the Elves. However, the Holy Spirit was deeply afraid of his own kind.To suppress his race, he banished the Elves to the mortal realm, creating the divine realm—the progenitors of the current divine realm.Elves could interbreed with some terrestrial beings, producing offspring, which led to the current divine race.Descendants were always weaker than their predecessors. After the Elven race had undergone several generations of evolution, and their bloodline had become sufficiently diluted, the Holy Spirit once again raised his sword, beginning the hunt for all pure-blooded members of his race.To this day, pure-blooded Elves are almost impossible to find on the mortal realm. Yet, the divine sister Valla had just spoken of was undoubtedly an Elf, a pure-blooded Elf."When did that divine sister arrive here?"Valla quickly replied, "During the Eternal Night two years ago, she was able to directly traverse the Eternal Night to the underworld.""The time before that." Li An nodded silently, thinking it couldn't have been long ago, no more than a thousand years.She was still alive; perhaps soon, he would have the opportunity to meet her.Finally. A strong, icy wind swept in.Valla looked up in terror, crying, "The storm is coming! The storm is coming!" Li An's white robes billowed wildly, yet his body remained unmoved. He said to Valla, "I need the meteorite iron tree from this planet, but I will exchange it for my blood.""With my blood, you will fear no natural disaster and become the most powerful dwarf on this planet.""When you have unified all the dwarves in this world, I will come for you and take you to my world.""You can choose to refuse." In the surging snowstorm, Valla knelt before Li An, saying, "Please, God, grant me blood."A drop of divine blood flowed from Li An's fingertip, which he placed between Valla's brows.The blood entered Valla's body.He felt a warm sensation, as if he had taken a hot bath. A powerful force was being awakened within his blood, but he was unable to move for the time being, still absorbing the power of this drop of blood.Through his hazy vision, he saw the storm, capable of easily killing dwarves, being crushed beneath the god's feet.Silence returned.Before he completely lost consciousness, the god uttered a single sentence:"Looking forward to our next meeting."