Eternal Thief

Chapter 1722: The Evernight Sanctuary! (1)

Hidden in the darkest fold of the Abyssal Plains, far beyond the reach of wandering realms and detached from the rest of abyssal space, lay the Evernight Sanctuary, the most sacred and forbidden place under the Evernight Council’s dominion!

However, calling it the heart of the Evernight Council would not be wrong, but in fact, that description was still insufficient.

The Evernight Sanctuary was the embodiment of the Council’s very existence, the ancient land where the Evernight Founders had established the Evernight Council and from which its countless years of rise, expansion, and dominance had begun.

Without the Evernight Sanctuary, the Evernight Council would never have become the terrifying existence it was today. Yet the Evernight Sanctuary itself was not merely a headquarters; it was an ancient secret realm.

An entire world hidden beyond ordinary abyssal space.

Its existence was older than most civilizations currently ruling the Abyssal Plains, and its history was so ancient that even the oldest records preserved by the Evernight Council contained only fragments concerning its true origin.

Apparently, the Sanctuary had been discovered by the Evernight Founders in an age so distant that even the concept of the modern Abyssal Plains had yet to take shape, and despite the countless years that had passed since then, no one had ever completely uncovered the secrets of this mysterious realm.

No ordinary spatial passage could reach this place, as even an Abyssal King possessing profound attainments in the Space Law as their Prime Law would be unable to sense its location, much less forcefully enter it.

The Evernight Sanctuary seemed to exist in a space detached from the ordinary laws of the Abyss, and surrounding this secret realm was something even more mysterious.

The Void of Blood Stars!

The skies and depths of the Sanctuary stretched endlessly into a perpetual darkness filled with countless crimson stars, and there was no obvious ground or sky within that endless darkness, no horizon, or discernible boundary.

Only an immeasurable black void filled with crimson stars that seemed to gaze back at anyone who dared to enter.

The Evernight Council had named this terrifying region the Void of Blood Stars, for even Abyssal Kings did not dare to venture too deeply into it. Because once they entered the Void of Blood Stars, their Law Senses gradually lost meaning.

Not to mention, space became meaningless, distance became meaningless, and even their perception of their own existence could become distorted.

Many powerful beings had attempted to investigate the depths of the Void of Blood Stars throughout the Evernight Council’s history, but none had returned after crossing a certain distance, and no one knew what existed beyond that point.

There was perhaps another world, or an ancient abyssal civilization, or perhaps even an existence sleeping beyond the comprehension of the current Abyss. Or perhaps, nothing at all, because the Evernight Council had never found the answer.

After countless failures, even the Council’s strongest beings eventually stopped attempting to uncover the secret. Yet despite the terrifying Void of Blood Stars surrounding it, the Evernight Sanctuary itself remained completely unharmed.

For countless years, the mysterious void had never managed to devour the Sanctuary, and instead, it seemed as though the Sanctuary and the Void of Blood Stars had existed together since the very beginning.

At the center of this endless darkness stood an enormous continent, and this continent was the true foundation of the Evernight Sanctuary. It was also the only region within the entire secret realm where the influence of the Void of Blood Stars did not exist.

The strange phenomenon had remained unchanged since the Sanctuary’s discovery, and no matter how terrifying the Void of Blood Stars became, its influence stopped at the boundary of this continent.

Upon this continent stood the true headquarters of the Evernight Council. The entire structure of the Evernight Sanctuary resembled a colossal ring-shaped citadel suspended above a bottomless gulf of impossibly dense, pitch-black mist.

From a distance, it looked less like an ordinary continent and more like an enormous fortress built around an abyss.

The outermost portion of the Sanctuary was a gigantic wall-like continent, so enormous that its height alone could eclipse the horizon.

Its ancient walls stretched across the darkness like the bones of some incomprehensible primordial creature, forming the first and most important line of defense between the Evernight Sanctuary and the endless Void of Blood Stars.

It was also the foundation that seemed to keep the pitch-black mist at bay.

Behind this enormous wall lay the true territories of the Evernight Council, and unlike anything found elsewhere in the Abyssal Plains, the architecture of the Sanctuary possessed a strange characteristic.

It reflected nothing, no light or image, as even the strongest law senses of Abyssal Kings seemed incapable of obtaining a complete reflection from its structures.

Moreover, the buildings themselves appeared to swallow everything that touched them, and even more strangely, the Sanctuary possessed an astonishing regenerative ability. If one of its structures was damaged, the broken parts would slowly regenerate; if an enormous section of the Sanctuary were destroyed, the realm itself would eventually repair the damage.

It was almost as if the entire Sanctuary possessed a living heart, as though the structures were ribs growing from the heart of an ancient existence.

Covering the entirety of this enormous fortress were countless Abyssal Crystal Lattices, and these mysterious crystals existed only within the Evernight Sanctuary. They were embedded throughout its walls, mountains, cities, fortresses, formations, and countless ancient structures, pulsing faintly like dormant hearts.

Streams of devouring shadows flowed through them like rivers of runic energy, constantly circulating throughout the Sanctuary, and no one outside the Evernight Council knew how these Abyssal Crystal Lattices had been created. Even within the Council, only the highest-ranking existences possessed the authority to investigate their true origin.

Yet everyone understood one thing. The Abyssal Crystal Lattices were one of the fundamental reasons the Evernight Sanctuary had remained so terrifyingly powerful for countless years, for they supported the Sanctuary’s formations, strengthened its defenses, stabilized its spatial structure, and, perhaps most importantly, were connected to the ancient laws embedded within the secret realm itself.

Thousands of meters beneath the Void of Blood Stars, ancient mountains pierced through layers of mysterious black clouds. Enormous cities spread across the continent while floating landscapes drifted between the mountains.

Moreover, there were cultivation grounds that occupied vast territories, and forbidden ruins scattered throughout remote regions; ancient palaces and towering structures rose into the darkness.

Beneath all of them existed countless underground chambers, secret passages, hidden vaults, and sealed regions that had accumulated throughout the Evernight Council’s history.

The presence of Abyssal Laws was extraordinarily dense here, and Abyssal Qi was almost tangible. Even the most ordinary regions of the Sanctuary possessed an environment that countless cultivators outside would consider a cultivation paradise.

Yet all of this was merely the surface; the true foundation of the Evernight Council lay much deeper, for there were ancient inheritances, forbidden treasures, and the Council’s oldest formations.

The Evernight Maker Sanctuary, where the Council’s greatest Abyssal Alchemists, Forgers, Rune Crafters, Engineers, and other specialists gathered.

Evernight Chronicle Hall, hidden armories, ancient cultivation grounds, countless secret techniques accumulated throughout the Council’s history, and even the most terrifying secrets that had never been revealed to the outside world.

All of them existed somewhere within the Evernight Sanctuary, and this was why the Sanctuary had remained the heart of the Evernight Council for countless years.

It wasn’t merely where the Council’s strongest beings gathered, but it was the place that had allowed the Evernight Council to become what it was today, and the foundation of its dominance over the Abyssal Plains.

Yet despite possessing such an enormous realm, the Evernight Council did not allow its members to freely remain inside the Sanctuary; it was quite the opposite.

Access to the Evernight Sanctuary was itself one of the greatest privileges within the entire Evernight Council, and only the most talented members were ever granted the opportunity to enter.

But even those selected geniuses were not permitted to remain indefinitely, and every individual was given a set amount of time. During that period, they could cultivate, comprehend Laws, study ancient inheritances, enter specialized training grounds, search through the Council’s archives, or seek guidance from the Sanctuary’s countless experts.

But once their allotted period ended, they had to leave.

There was only one exception. Those who successfully reached the rank of an Evernight Duke and entered the King’s Circle were granted the right to remain within the Sanctuary permanently.

Only such existences were truly qualified to make the Sanctuary their eternal home, and even becoming an Evernight Duke did not mean one could act recklessly, for the Sanctuary possessed its own hierarchy, rules, and divisions. Most importantly, its own terrifying order, maintained for countless years.

Furthermore, the Evernight Dukes were not the only top-ranked existences residing within the Sanctuary, but there were also other Half-Abyssal Kings, and quite a few of them.

However, their status was somewhat different from that of the Evernight Dukes. Unlike the Evernight Dukes, who could leave or be dispatched outside the Sanctuary to handle matters of enormous importance, these Half-Abyssal Kings stationed within the Sanctuary were forbidden from casually leaving.

They were known as the Evernight Count-Dukes. A title above the Evernight Marquis and beneath the Evernight Dukes, but they were not members of any of the Evernight Circles, nor were they ordinary officials.

They were the Evernight Sanctuary’s hidden strength, its reserves, concealed weapons, and the deepest pool of accumulated power belonging to the Evernight Council.

Every Evernight Count-Duke was a terrifying powerhouse in their own right, and should one of them ever leave the Sanctuary and openly display their strength, they could shake entire regions of the Abyssal Plains.

Yet their greatest value wasn’t merely their individual strength, but it was the fact that they remained hidden. As long as these existences remained within the Sanctuary, the outside world could never accurately determine just how much strength the Evernight Council truly possessed.

Moreover, the Evernight Count-Dukes were not idle, as they occupied some of the Sanctuary’s most important positions.

Some controlled divisions, some managed ancient inheritances, some oversaw the Council’s resources, some commanded armies, some guarded forbidden regions, and others were responsible for functions that had existed since the earliest days of the Evernight Council.

The Sanctuary itself was therefore divided into enormous divisions, and each division possessed its own purpose, territories, hierarchy, and responsibilities.

There were divisions responsible for military matters. Divisions focused on reinforcement and emergency deployment. Divisions responsible for training and nurturing younger generations.

Divisions handling resources and treasures. Divisions specializing in alchemy, forging, and formations. Divisions responsible for intelligence and information gathering. Divisions devoted to ancient research and excavation of heritage sites.

There were even divisions responsible for maintaining the Sanctuary’s defensive formations and protecting the Council’s most important secrets.

Together, these divisions formed the enormous machine that allowed the Evernight Council to function.

Among them, one division possessed a particularly important role. The Evernight Realm Conquest Division!