How quickly one could take in and digest essence blood was closely related to how strong one"s body was.
Ordinarily speaking, the stronger one was and the more powerful one"s essence blood was, the faster it was to take in other essence blood.
However, the side-effects would be the same.
As Chen Heng devoured the essence blood, Chen Heng could not help but open his eyes.
All kinds of fragmented memories rushed into the depths of his mind.
There were b.l.o.o.d.y scenes and scenes of mating with Merfolk flas.h.i.+ng in his mind.
To ordinary people, this was a ma.s.sive blow, and if their willpower was not strong enough, perhaps it might collapse.
However, it was not a big deal to Chen Heng.
After all, he had experienced this kind of thing many times, and he had also pa.s.sed the hero trial"s test of willpower.
Time gradually pa.s.sed, and after a while, he was able to return to normal.
After he devoured the Merfolk essence blood, his body began to go through changes.
Some places on his body became itchy, as if there were some changes.
Chen Heng shook his head, and he could feel a sense of dizziness.
After using the Heaven Devouring Scripture, his mind had once again been tainted by some impurities. However, Chen Heng already had countermeasures.
Pure, silver-white Moon G.o.d Energy flowed throughout Chen Heng"s body, affecting his mind and gradually purifying it of impurities.
At the same time, powerful faith energy turned into pure-white holy light and bathed his body, restoring his mind.
Feeling this, Chen Heng understood something.
As expected, faith energy was very effective against mental impurities.
This was just like how Chen Heng had released Ariel and the others from the Heart-Devouring Devil"s corruption.
This meant that it would be even easier for him to deal with the Heaven Devouring Scripture"s side-effects in future.
In the past, he could use the Moon G.o.d Energy, but it was far less effective than faith energy.
It seemed that as long as Chen Heng did not take in too much at once, he could use the Heaven Devouring Scripture much more frequently.
This was a very good piece of news.
After silently getting up, Chen Heng walked ahead and put the Merfolk corpses away before leaving.
A month or so slowly pa.s.sed.
Apart from the Merfolk attack, the rest of the time, it was quite peaceful on the s.h.i.+p.
After sailing for more than a month, they reached their destination.
The Dolan region.
This was where Chen Heng"s body had been born, and it was his hometown.
After arriving, Chen Heng led Ariel and the others towards the Doyle family"s residence.
Soon, they arrived.
After a few years, the residence looked mostly the same.
However, even though the place was not any different, the people inside had changed.
Chen Heng"s body"s grandfather, Griffin, had already pa.s.sed away.
Back then, because of an unsuccessful experiment, Griffin had fallen unconscious, and Chen Heng had used his Moon G.o.d Energy to slowly heal him.
However, Chen Heng"s actions had only reduced the problems in his mind and not changed his lifespan.
As such, Griffin had pa.s.sed away after two years.
After hearing about this, Chen Heng fell silent.
Honestly speaking, Griffin was not a good person. In fact, from the things he had done, he was undoubtedly a bad person.
However, no matter what, Griffin was Chen Heng"s body"s grandfather and one of the people who had treated him the best.
Chen Heng could not help but feel a bit sad at his death.
Apart from Griffin, there were some others in the Doyle family"s residence.
Back then, Chen Heng had taken four students. They had all become First Rank Apprentices, and the best among them was not too far away from Second Rank Apprentice.
Chen Heng was quite happy with their performance.
Honestly speaking, after Chen Heng had gone missing, the Doyle family had relied on Griffin.
After Griffin had died, even though the situation had not changed, that was only because the other Sorcerer families believed that it was likely that Chen Heng would return, which was why they did not do anything.
However, as time went on, the other Sorcerer families" att.i.tudes began to change.
If Chen Heng did not return and was late by a few years, the Doyle family"s situation might have been much worse.
To the people of the Doyle family, Chen Heng returning was incredibly good news.
After returning and placating the people from the Doyle family and his students, Chen Heng began to act.
In the following months, the Hunter"s House began to act against all surrounding factions.
All Sorcerer families and mortal kingdoms were destroyed by these true Sorcerers, and they were fused into one, just like what Chen Heng had done in the Faith World.
Following this, they established a new Academy.
As the Princ.i.p.al, Chen Heng took in the Sorcerers from the Sorcerer families that they had suppressed and took in new students.
He also used his experience from the Faith World to make magic items to ma.s.s-test people"s Sorcerer talent.
With the new test equipment, large numbers of students were brought into the newly-established Dawn Academy.
The Dawn Academy was the name that Chen Heng had given to the new Academy, and its full name was Dawn Sorcerer Academy.
Chen Heng hoped that they would also open a Dawn Knight Academy in the future.
Even compared to Sorcerers, the Knight path was not something to be underestimated.
Knight Apprentices with life energy could compare to a First Rank Apprentice.
True Knights who had awakened their Life Seeds could be compared to Second Rank Apprentices.
Finally, Great Knights could compare to Third Rank Apprentices.
Moreover, when Knights ignited their Life Seeds, the power they could explode with was usually stronger than what Apprentices had.
Even though there were no Knights that could rival true Sorcerers, Great Knights were already quite strong.
Time gradually pa.s.sed.
Soon, it had been another ten years.
After ten years, the Hemu region was still filled with chaotic warfare.
The Mogow Academy, Heart-Devouring Devil… all kinds of factions battled it out.
As for the newly-established Dawn Academy, it continued to develop in the Dolan region and take in Apprentices escaping from the Hemu region.
Just like that, they continuously raised more and more students.
In just ten years, Dawn Academy had hundreds of students.
Those students would then teach more students.
Chen Heng"s forces in the Faith World were also developing quite well.
With a few true Sorcerers working together, they were continuously being developed, such as mutated crops that had been stimulated by magic power and could grow in any conditions and still have high yields.
With these things, their numbers continuously increased.
They also took in some children to enter Dawn Sorcerer Academy.
This was the Faith World"s first batch of Sorcerers.
In the future, these Sorcerers would spread the seeds of Sorcerers out.
As they had their own families, the Sorcerer bloodline would spread until more and more people with Sorcerer talent appeared.
However, all of this would take time.
The fifteenth year after the academy was established, Chen Heng led Ariel and the others back to the Hemu region.
After developing for 15 years, Dawn Academy was much stronger than before.
In terms of true Sorcerers, they had roped in some Sorcerers from the Hemu region, and including Chen Heng, there were now eight of them.
In terms of Apprentices, they were doing even better.
With cheap methods to test Sorcerer talent, large numbers of Apprentices had appeared, and 15 years was enough for them to grow.
By now, the current Dawn Academy really did have the strength to devour other factions and take over their resources.
As such, Chen Heng began to wage war.
Another three years pa.s.sed.
In three years, large parts of the Hemu region had been taken over by the Dawn Academy, and those who had been controlled by the Heart-Devouring Devil were released and joined Dawn Academy.
During those three years, Mogow Academy and the Heart-Devouring Devil"s forces had been destroyed.
The Heart-Devouring Devil and Dawn Academy"s Princ.i.p.al, Ed Doyle, had a mighty battle, and it was finally nailed onto a cliff. It was taken as the most precious spoils of war back to the Hunter"s House.
Soon, Dawn Academy unified the Hemu region.
After this, the war that had gone on for ten or so years in the Hemu region finally came to a conclusion.
After that age of war ended, a new age descended.
The Dawn Empire was established and reigned over the Hemu region.
Based on the Hemu region"s records from the past thousands of years, this was the first time that a faction had unified the Hemu region, and it was the first time that all Sorcerers had gathered under a single faction.
All citizens and Sorcerers belonged to the Dawn Empire.
By now, apart from the Merfolk, there were very few Sorcerers who had not submitted to the Dawn Empire.
From the Hemu region"s northmost point to the archipelagos, all human Sorcerers were under the same banner.
The Dawn Empire"s strength was incredibly great.
According to Ariel and the others" estimates, the Dawn Empire had 20 or so true Sorcerers, and most of them had been rescued from the Heart-Devouring Devil"s control.
After being saved by Chen Heng, those Sorcerers naturally joined the Dawn Empire and became part of it.
After the Dawn Empire was established, Dawn Academy became the official Sorcerer Academy.
All other Sorcerer academies and organizations had vanished.
Of course, as time went on and there were more and more Sorcerer Apprentices, Chen Heng planned to open other academies.
However, right now, just Dawn Academy was able to take in all of the Sorcerers.
Time went on.
Soon, it had been another 30 years.
By now, the Dawn Empire had fully taken over the Hemu region and was still quickly expanding.
More and more students were taken from among the ordinary people and sent to the Dawn Academy. Most of their Sorcerer talent was not very high, only having Level 1 talent, and even the better ones only had Level 2 talent.
Level 2 talent was the limit for ordinary people.
Normally, those who did not have Sorcerer ancestors could only have Level 2 talent at most.
Level 3 and above required some Sorcerer bloodline.
This was why the Sorcerer academies liked to find students from among Sorcerer families in the past. It was easier, as most students had better apt.i.tude and talent.
However, this did not matter.
After these students became Sorcerers, their descendants would also be the descendants of Sorcerers, and their apt.i.tude would gradually change.
After a few generations, there would definitely be an influx of outstanding students.
Chen Heng had enough patience for this.
Moreover, in order to increase the number of Sorcerers, the Empire produced some policies to encourage Sorcerers to have more children.
Families that had more children would receive various benefits and rewards.
While the Empire developed, it also developed outwards.
50 years after the Dawn Empire was established, it declared war on the Merfolk race.
After 50 years of development, the Empire"s strength was incredibly great, and the number of true Sorcerers it had had doubled.
Some of them had ranked up from Third Rank Apprentices, while others were geniuses from the new generation.
Even though they were new true Sorcerers, they were not weak at all.
Comparatively speaking, the Merfolk did not have as many Sorcerers, but they had their own advantages.
After all, they lived in the ocean and had a geographical advantage.
This war went on for ten years, and it only concluded in the sixtieth year of the Dawn Empire.
When the Merfolk Royal Court had been taken down, a large number of Merfolk tribes officially surrendered.
The new Merfolk Royals took the remaining Merfolk to move far away.
This announced the complete victory of the Dawn Empire.
Time continued to pa.s.s.
65 years after the Dawn Empire had been established, Chen Heng, who had stayed in the Dawn City for a long time, set out and came to a place.
"Is it here?"
There was a silver forest ahead, and hazy light flashed, creating a beautiful feeling.
Beautiful, tranquil, ancient…
All kinds of unique auras could be felt here, and seeing this forest, one could not help but feel calm and comfortable.
"The Mogow Plains…" Chen Heng muttered to himself softly.
The Mogow Plains was quite a unique place in the Hemu region.
This was where the last Elf tribe of the Hemu region resided.
The silver forest was formed from the Elf race"s silver trees, which was a unique magic plant and the symbol of the Elf race.
"Your Majesty, would you like me to go and notify them?"
The governor here was a true Sorcerer and hearing that Chen Heng had come, he could not help but feel quite nervous, "I have some connections with those Elves and have traded with them before."
"No need," Chen Heng shook his head, "They"re already here."
Hearing this, the people in front of him felt quite startled and looked around.
Ahead, some figures walked over.
They looked similar to humans, but their looks were more handsome and beautiful, and their eyes were a deep black color.
They wore simple leather armor and strode over from a distance.