Birth of the Demonic Sword

Many fights followed the decision of Noah's group to hunt Heaven and Earth's followers. The old rulers granted them access to a relatively detailed map of the areas those cultivators were trying to defend, and the experts didn't hesitate to capture them.

Fighting gaseous stage cultivators had basically become normal for Noah and the others. They weren't even alone since the old rulers' magical beasts often joined their battles, and victories started piling on.

Noah had the chance to seize multiple existences. Supreme Thief's ability was part of his greed now, so he only needed to rely on his desire to activate it. His hunger also played an important role in that field, but Heaven and Earth's cultivators couldn't do much anyway. The rulers were silent, so those assets couldn't come back to life or use specific counters.

Noah's group also approached battles that they could win. They didn't care about maximizing their damage to Heaven and Earth's system. They only wanted to expand the influence of the improved magical beasts among the storms while stealing aspects for themselves.

Heaven and Earth were silent, but Noah didn't show the entirety of his new power anyway. He limited himself to growing accustomed to the latest state of his existence while continuing to study the dragons' spheres.

The hunts led the group into strange and unique areas. The chaotic laws carried hidden meanings that made them tend toward specific creations. Some regions featured faint palaces, others had far more energy than usual in the form of lakes, and a few tried to build underground structures meant for something that even King Elbas struggled to understand.

Noah and the others had long since understood that the stormy regions weren't only a mass of power that generated lands randomly. The chaotic laws followed a vague blueprint that eventually came to life as time passed. Heaven and Earth released that energy with a plan in mind but studying it from the surface felt hard.

King Elbas did his best to keep track of the unique areas that the group crossed and cleared, but the map that came out only increased his confusion. He could find vague meanings, but he didn't understand what they had to generate once fusing with the other unique zones.

That study seemed to require a general view of the stormy regions and an understanding of the sky. Too much of the white layer remained hidden from the group's vision from their position, and that knowledge felt necessary to learn what Heaven and Earth were up to.

Of course, the sky wasn't even close to the group's range. Noah and the others were even trying to avoid it for now since they were prioritizing their improvements. However, their efforts ended up working against their growth, at least when it came to King Elbas, Noah, and Steven.

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That consequence didn't surprise them. King Elbas, Noah, and Steven were the only ones relying on the stolen existences to increase their understanding and deepen their aspects, but they knew what that process caused. A stronger law required more time to improve, so none of them managed to approach the breakthrough in that period.

Divine Demon and Wilfred's existences were peculiar, which didn't allow them to rely on the stolen aspects. The former didn't make any sense while the latter took power in his simplicity, so they couldn't add foreign understanding. Still, the two also struggled to approach the breakthrough, and the only explanation was in the lack of dangers on their path.

The hunts tested their abilities, but only inside certain limits. Noah and the others never risked losing their lives during that process. The followers in the gaseous stage lost most of their dangerousness when Heaven and Earth didn't help them.

That discovery made the group feel pleased about their battle prowess, but it also forced them to accept how the ninth rank would continue to escape their grasp as long as they failed to meet proper dangers. Initially, that was fine since the hunts made them stronger anyway, but problems inevitably started to appear when all that power remained stuck in the eighth rank.

Divine Demon and Wilfred noticed how their three companions began to show unstable behaviors during their travels and hunts. Those issues weren't too troublesome since they mainly consisted of random flares of energy that expressed some of their improved aspects or similar events. Yet, they were a clear sign that their laws couldn't remain in that state anymore.

The centers of power were almost living beings in the divine ranks. They behaved according to the understanding that they carried, so their depths could force them to act as if they were already in the ninth rank.

That obviously caused problems. King Elbas slowly became unable to contain his curiosity. He fell into a daze whenever a gale carried an interesting meaning. That issue started to happen so often that he had to develop items capable of keeping him focused on his surroundings.

Steven's aura gained unique destructive properties. His determination transformed into a judge for the matter around him and forced what it found unworthy to crumble.

Noah was slightly better off. He had multiple aspects of his existence trying to apply their power on the world around him, but his ambition remained his main power. His influence didn't carry destructive effects, so his instability benefited the world and his companions.

Still, it was clear that they couldn't keep going like that. The three experts didn't want to become simple bodies that carried their influence across the world. They wanted to remain in control of their existence, and that required a breakthrough.

"We are a few possible targets," King Elbas announced as a golden light flashed in his eyes whenever he tried to move his gaze away from the map under him.

The map would be unclear to existences who had never seen a similar representation of the stormy regions. King Elbas didn't bother to describe them as a ring floating around the empty Immortal Lands. He depicted them as a tunnel that had no end or beginning.

That description allowed King Elbas and his companions to use the dead zones and the orange city as checkpoints. They helped keep track of the areas they had already crossed, even if that knowledge remained correct only for a few decades or centuries. The storms never stopped moving and transforming those areas, so the map ended up needing constant updates.

"The old rulers have confirmed the presence of three solid stage cultivators, forty liquid stage, and a few hundred gaseous stage," King Elbas continued. "We can continue hunting the gaseous stage for few more decades, but I believe our existences will reach their limits by then. We need the breakthrough to put our new understanding into use."

"We all need the breakthroughs," Divine Demon cursed while glancing at the sky hidden behind the storms in the distance. "I swear, Heaven and Earth are mocking us. They spend millennia trying to suppress us only to disappear when we actually need their help."

"They are only calculating how to restore their harmony without the laws lost during Sword Saint's breakthrough," Noah explained. "They have built their current existence in eras, so it's understandable for them to take a while."

"To think that Noah Balvan would defend the rulers," Wilfred laughed.

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"Please, I need to rely on my reasonable side to keep my aspects in check," Noah sneered while fixing his hungry eyes on Wilfred. "I don't know who I might eat in this condition."

"So, we are going after liquid stage cultivators," Steven interrupted that silent threat. "We have a relatively challenging hunt and a hard one. Which one do you want to face?"