Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah and the others had multiple choices when it came to their hunts. Most of them involved gaseous stage experts, but the liquid stage cultivators also offered different options.

In theory, their level wasn't enough to deal with liquid stage cultivators. The battle against the sword expert had already discovered their limits. The improvements given by the hunts had given them some confidence in the matter, but they still believed that they had to gang up on such strong existences to be confident of their victory.

Still, the group wasn't looking for victories. They wanted challenges, something that could force their existence to evolve, and only multiple liquid stage cultivators could provide that. The only doubts came from how many of them they had to fight at the same time.

Only Noah, King Elbas, and Divine Demon were crazy enough to claim that they could handle a liquid stage cultivator on their own. They wanted to have solo battles to increase their chances of advancing to the ninth rank, but they couldn't force their companions to do the same.

Wilfred and Steven didn't mind dealing with one liquid stage expert together, which led the group to pick an area with four opponents as their new destination. It turned out that only four regions met their requirements, so they only had to choose which one to attack before departing.

The choice fell on King Elbas. Everyone was studying the layout of the stormy regions, but they were behind in terms of understanding. Moreover, King Elbas knew which locations would benefit his knowledge, so he was perfect for that role.

The group departed after completing every step. Their destination was a unique region where the storms had created a wonderful environment that contained a lot of energy. The old rulers had sent a unique species of hawk-like magical beasts to seize it in the past years, but the pack had lost against the cultivators in charge of defending the area.

The old rulers didn't stop there. They had also understood that the region had a special meaning for Heaven and Earth, so they sent multiple packs with the intention of studying and finding weaknesses in the cultivators. However, those improved magical beasts didn't manage to learn much. The vast amount of energy in the area remained its most striking feature.

"It can mean many things," King Elbas explained when his companions questioned him about the area. "Heaven and Earth might have set something that the sky doesn't allow. The area might even be something that they want to absorb later on. It can also be an initial attempt to rebuild their body. There are countless possibilities as long as I remain unclear about their plan."

"We must wait until the sky enters our reach for that," Noah sighed.

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"Can your unreasonable insight in the rulers come up with something?" King Elbas asked.

"I have a few ideas, but they mostly are logical conclusions," Noah announced.

"I don't know how keeping Xavier curious helps us," Wilfred laughed as a golden light flashed multiple times in King Elbas' eyes.

"We have yet to become Heaven and Earth's main targets," Noah promptly added. "The monster and the dragons are their greatest opponents, but the former is outside the sky. The rulers also want to take care of the magical beasts since their control of the world depends on that victory, so I think they are placing weapons among the storms."

"Why wouldn't they make them inside the sky?" Steven asked.

"They probably already did," King Elbas responded while nodding to express his approval toward Noah's ideas. "Still, the sky must be able to create perfect conditions and environments. Heaven and Earth must test these weapons among the storms to know whether they can affect the dragons."

"You must even consider how close they have been to defeating the dragons in the last period," Noah continued. "There is a high chance that these weapons are final prototypes or something similar."

"This if your guess is correct," Steven exclaimed before rolling his eyes, "Which usually happens when it comes to stuff connected to Heaven and Earth."

"The rulers have no reason to invest in the stormy regions," Noah stated. "They have no intention to rebuild the Immortal Lands, and they probably aren't trying to build themselves a body yet, especially since their existence is too unclear. I don't claim to know everything about Heaven and Earth, but I don't see other possible explanations."

Noah's speech made a lot of sense. Heaven and Earth's followers weren't trying to kill or hunt down rebels. They were protecting regions inside the storms, which sounded like a waste of manpower. After all, the rulers already had the sky. It felt unreasonable to use powerful assets for lands that the chaotic laws could rebuild in mere years.

Noah could guess that those regions had a special meaning for the sky, but that sounded unreasonable and disappointing. The immense and powerful white layer would lose value if it required mere lands hidden by the storms.

Another theory saw Noah being unable to gain a proper understanding of Heaven and Earth's plan. Yet, he was almost at the last step of his journey. He had learnt almost everything there was to know about existences and their functioning. He had even glanced at the structures past the ninth rank during Sword Saint's breakthrough. The rulers could still surprise him, but they had to do that within known fields.

The weapons theory fit every requirement and even respected the current situation of the world. Heaven and Earth could surprise Noah on the actual nature of those assets, but he remained pretty certain about his hypothesis.

An area that featured a peculiar structure eventually unfolded in the group's vision and told them that they had reached their destination. A vast white lake floated among dense storms. A mountain stood at its side, and a waterfall enlarged its size.

The area didn't seem to have a surface. The mountain was also standing on dense storms, and the white water in the lakes and the waterfall was the result of chaotic laws that transformed due to the meanings that they carried.

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The experts could immediately sense that the amount of energy in that area was far above what the other stormy regions contained. Noah even believed that devouring the whole lake would provide the same nutrients that only upper tier creatures had. Needless to say, his hunger seeped out of his figure and generated a suction force, but four heavy auras converged on him and dispersed the effects of that ability.

Noah and his companions glanced at a spot high in the sky. Their eyes pierced the dense storms that filled the region to fix themselves on four figures that seemed to shine among the whiteness released by the water. Those four cultivators were sitting cross-legged on the mountain peak, and they didn't hesitate to stand up when they noticed those unwanted guests.

"You have over-," One of the cultivators tried to say something, but Noah interrupted him before the expert could voice the same threats that he had heard way too often.

"We have already divided ourselves," Noah announced. "Can we skip the talking part and start fighting? I need one of you to fight me, so decide quickly and get this over with."