Birth of the Demonic Sword

'Thirty, no. Forty thousand!' Noah thought as he inspected the pile of Soul Stones.

No rank 7 cultivator in the gaseous stage could have access to that amount of wealth, but it now stood right in front of Noah's eyes. His consciousness also expanded to study the room, but he didn't find any danger in place.

The pile of Soul Stones was the actual loot protected by the swarm of puppets, and it now belonged to him. Noah disregarded his injured shoulder to walk toward the gray mineral and store it inside his separate space.

'How can this not be an inheritance?!' Noah exclaimed in his mind.

That sum of money was immense for a cultivator at his level, but it was nothing for an existence capable of building the Pyramid. Noah couldn't understand the point of hiding forty thousand Soul Stones. The creator couldn't possibly find them valuable.

Noah inspected every corner of the room before sitting at its center. There was nothing else in the area, which reflected what the Balrow family had studied during those millennia. That place wasn't special, so the Soul Stones were the actual resource protected by the swarm.

'This is so strange,' Noah thought. 'Why would someone build such powerful defenses to protect futile money? What is the point of having layers meant for rank 7 cultivators? Why creating such a complicated structure if you are unwilling to see your resources go away?'

Noah could find many possible explanations for the strangeness of the Pyramid. Still, he couldn't confirm any of them. He suspected that the Balrow family knew more about the structure since its experts had explored the upper parts of the Pyramid, but he couldn't do anything with that guess.

His thoughts mostly lingered on how he could find loopholes in the Pyramid. Noah wanted to understand the creator to exploit eventual flaws. Still, everything was too vague.

'Is my mindset too distant from those powerful experts?' Noah questioned himself without managing to find an answer.

Noah eventually let go of his doubts and focused on healing his shoulder. The Pyramid wasn't something that an existence as weak as him could understand nor conquer, so he quickly stopped trying to find an answer to his many questions.

He only had to accumulate resources and leave. Noah didn't need to solve every mystery that he found. His cultivation level always had priority, and he didn't have any time to waste.

The fly-like puppets had turn flesh, muscles, and even bones when they threatened to rip off his shoulder. The damage was quite severe, and Noah couldn't heal it in a short time without the help of a spell.

Noah didn't mind waiting for his body to recover naturally, but he didn't want to waste time. The Pyramid was still neutral territory for him. The Balrow family liked him, but he couldn't rely on that vague feeling for too long.

'I wonder if they already know that I have succeeded,' Noah wondered even if he knew the answer to his question.

The Balrow family didn't place recording items because most cultivators wouldn't enter the Pyramid otherwise. Yet, it could understand when someone crossed certain defenses through a series of sensors spread among the layers.

A strand of dark matter came out of Noah's chest and spread outside of the room. The corridor didn't react to the arrival of the higher energy. The tiles remained in their place, and no puppets came out to attack the dense gas.

The Pyramid had sensed that Noah had retrieved the resource inside that sealed area, so it stopped providing energy to the swarm. That threatening defense was no more.

'They definitely know,' Noah concluded after that test.

More dark matter came out of his chest, and darkness flowed out of his dantian to fuse with his mental energy. A sword-like shell formed around him and began to accelerate his healing properties.

The injury on his shoulder would typically take years to heal, even if he were in the Immortal Lands. However, the Dark Womb spell could lower that time to some months.

Noah didn't lack food since he had spent most of his travel hunting. The stay inside the Dark Womb spell was silent and relaxing, and his shoulder quickly healed during that process.

He even cultivated once his body returned to its peak. Noah wouldn't disregard his training even there.

Then, Noah left the room to walk toward the next sealed area. The first layer had a few defenses that even his many advantages didn't allow him to overcome, so he only had three more targets in mind.

It felt odd that the Pyramid had such a variety of defenses. Some of the protection featured shockwaves that had managed to destroy the seas of consciousness of entire groups of experts. Those tests were impossible to overcome by weaker cultivators. Even Noah had to ignore them.

Noah could only aim to surpass the defenses that targeted dantians and bodies. His dark matter and hybrid status would allow him to show his superior might at that point, which gave him a chance to seize a few resources.

After crossing a long corridor, entered a secret path inside a wall, and turned a few tiles to uncover an underground tunnel, Noah reached his second target. It was an area at the end of a large passage that featured multiple statues fixed on its walls.

The statues depicted demon-like creatures who had short horns, sharp fangs, and humanoid features. Noah didn't recognize that species, but his instincts made him able to sense their dangerousness.

The demon-like figures wielded thick maces with both their hands and wore angry expressions pointed at the floor. According to the Balrow family's records, the statues would swing their weapons once cultivators passed through the corridor, and their strength wasn't something that humans could handle.

The maces also seemed to be special inscribed weapons capable of weakening spells. Only martial arts could express their real power there, and Noah felt eager to test them.

When it came to physical strength, Noah had no equals at his level. He was the strongest species due to the fourth center of power, so it was normal for him to feel confident about that test.

The statues began to swing their maces when Noah stepped inside the corridor. Dark-yellow trails flashed in his eyes as those massive weapons descended toward him.

The clash between the weapons and Noah created shockwaves throughout the area, but he didn't move. He didn't even stop running forward when the maces landed on him.

Noah ran toward the entrance in the distance. As long as he breached the defense, he would obtain more resources and reach a safe area.

His greed seeped out of his figure as the entrance drew near. Noah couldn't contain his excitement when he sensed pain spreading from his torso, back, and arms. The maces kept on landing on him, but they couldn't hinder his charge.

Then, when he was about to reach the entrance, an unstoppable force landed on the right side of his waist and pushed him back at the beginning of the corridor.

Noah understood what had happened only when the back of his head slammed on the floor. He felt blood rising from his throat and accumulating in his mouth, and a stabbing pain spread from his waist.