Chapter 456 — All-Around Improvement

The actual appearance of the River of Time had been completely erased from Liora’s memories.

Yet her enhanced strength and the changes that had occurred in the Snake of Time made her realize that the previous phenomena had not been an illusion.

They also confirmed that her advancement was complete.

The leap from Creation Stage to the Throne Stage was the simplest among the four substages of the Archdevil stage.

All it required was for the Devil to gain a deeper understanding of their integrated concepts, transforming the Throne into a material object, and thus completing a leap in life level.

"Of course, though it is the ’easiest’, that is only relative to the other stages. Few people can truly take that step, only one in a thousand or so Archdevils."

"Even then, to achieve it would normally require tens of thousands of years.", Liora whispered with an odd expression on her face.

Indeed. For other people, taking this step would have taken a long time, with every bit of progress measured in centuries.

But for her, the advancement to the Throne Stage was even faster than when she went from a Greater Devil to an Archdevil.

From start to finish, it had only taken her less than a month.

"This is... surprising to say the least.", Liora thought, knowing that this was the result of a series of coincidences and sufficient preparations.

Her having accumulated enough Evolution Points to create the Devil Empress’s Furnace, her having grasped the concept of Devouring, and most of all, her encountering the corpse of an Ascension Stage Zerg Queen.

If just one of these conditions was missing, Liora would never have made such rapid progress.

"Unfortunately, an advancement to the Anchoring Stage is countless times more difficult. The Devil Empress’s Furnace cannot provide me with much help."

A "leap" to the Anchoring Stage was far more complicated and abstract.

It required the Archdevil to raise their now-material Throne into the River of Time and let it withstand the impact of time.

Though Liora had no memories of it and its very appearance had been erased from her memory, the River of Time’s unfathomable power was still engraved in her instincts.

Just thinking about it filled her with horror.

Moreover, there was no set way for an Archdevil to achieve this goal.

Each Archdevil was different. If they wished to raise their Throne, they had to find their own method.

"This is quite troublesome...", Liora softly exhaled.

"I’d rather brute-force the advancement just like now. Why do we have to make things so complicated?", she shook her head, shifting her attention to the illusory river rapidly swirling around her.

"I’m afraid that I’ll have to rely on this thing if I wish to maintain my rate of progress.", she whispered, sensing that the Snake of Time’s power had greatly increased.

Although she had only managed to catch a glimpse of the River of Time, this was enough to grant her many insights.

Even if they were completely forgotten after she exited that strange state, they had been instinctively fused with the Snake of Time.

As such, Snake of Time—a technique that had been created through a series of coincidences in the past—had unknowingly advanced to the 2nd Level.

"I previously believed that I’d need to wait for a long time and kill countless people to collect enough Evolution Points to upgrade it."

"But now, it seems that this technique may have a chance to transform on its own."

Liora checked the power of the upgraded Snake of Time.

She sensed that all of its previous effects were still there and had been strengthened even further.

The ability to suppress enemies and manipulate the power of time had undergone a great change. Even if three Thousand-Eyed Devils were to fall into it, the Snake of Time was now powerful enough to suppress them.

Besides that, some bigger and more fundamental changes had taken place.

Liora did not easily grasp what they were, but she understood that she would be able to uncover them given enough time.

Knowing that now was not the right time or place to do this, Liora took the Snake of Time back into her body.

Her focus then turned to her own state. She instantly realized that both her physical strength and demonic energy had undergone a quantitative change.

However, these were far from the most important gains of her advancement.

"I can feel that the ’weight’ of my bloodline has increased and the bloodline itself has become more in tune with the Demon World."

"The result? The Little Devils selecting my bloodline have become greater in number."

"Moreover, their rate of improvement has increased significantly."

The stronger the source of the bloodline, the easier it would be for its descendants to make progress.

This was a sentence that Liora had heard of in the past, but had never understood its profound meaning.

It was only now, when she had advanced to the Throne Stage, that she finally did.

"For other Archdevils, the improvement of their descendants is important, but not as significant as for me. In my case, it’s enough for my combat power to skyrocket."

Progenitor’s Edict—an ability she had recently created.

By activating it, Liora could not only summon her descendants and request their help, but she could also use them as sacrifices to summon a powerful creature.

In the past, that creature could be at the Throne Stage. With her advancement, this had turned into the Anchoring Stage.

Seeing this, Liora couldn’t help but feel emotional.

It had not been long since she had to sneak out of the Hollow City, afraid that the Universe Chamber of Commerce would discover her and chase her down.

Yet, in just a few days, the relationship between the two had unknowingly changed.

If these people dared to seek trouble with her current self, she’d be able to kill them with ease.

Unfortunately, now was not the time to celebrate.

The Universe Chamber of Commerce was indeed not a threat anymore, but there was still something threatening. Perhaps even more.

Liora surveyed the now-empty clearing around her. Looking at the place where the Zerg Queen was previously lying, she found that there was nothing there.

With the last part of this creature collected, everything about her existence had been erased.

Though the opponent had reached the Ascension Stage and possessed countless means, there was no way she could revive.

However, this didn’t serve to help Liora calm down.

The Zerg Queen had never been the main danger in this underground cave.

The true source of trouble was the being who had killed her. And, more importantly, why they had left her here.

Upon that thought, Liora’s eyes narrowed.

Countless thoughts raced through her mind before she reached into the Space Orb and pulled out a small blue token.

The token was engraved with shining golden stars, while the signature of a person could be seen at the bottom right corner.

Liora poured her demonic energy into this object. It instantly lit up.

Immediately, a connection was established with a person in a faraway place. Then, Liora’s voice rang out.

"I have some information that may interest you..."