Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah stored the crystals and left the pit after giving one last glance at the array of lightning bolts. He had gained something out of that inheritance, so he didn't mind spending a few seconds to appreciate the scene.

'He didn't give me anything above my current level,' Noah thought as he walked back toward the entrance of the inheritance. 'What a stingy will.'

A sigh escaped his mouth, but Noah soon suppressed it. The hole contained crystals in the eighth rank, but the will had limited itself to give only items in the middle tier. Still, Noah couldn't complain since his gains were substantial.

'I guess there is no point in searching for other inheritances,' Noah thought. 'I have been lucky this time, but I will only find dangers that I can't face in the next ones. A few valuable items can't compare to the experience gained by exploring the world.'

Noah's thoughts confirmed his previous reasoning. It was pointless to explore the Hellish Landscape and the Land of the Fallen as a whole at his current level. Most of the inheritance there required a cultivation level in the solid stage at least.

He preferred to look for Divine Demon with Chief Ash and her underlings. His feelings about that legendary existence were still unclear, but Noah felt that he would make up his mind once he met the Demon.

Noah already saw Divine Demon as a natural ally, but he didn't want to rely on events that had happened in the lower plane to decide that. The Demon wouldn't even be aware of who had seized his inheritance since he had been in the Immortal Lands for more than nine thousand years.

'I wonder what he is up to,' Noah thought.

According to Chief Ash, Divine Demon resembled a mercenary willing to use his expertise for money. That position would allow him to accumulate many resources, especially in an environment with few inscription masters.

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The members of the Crystal City and Chief Ash's group weren't the only team that had entered the Hellish Landscape. The Crystal City had contacted multiple smaller forces to hunt Noah, and some of them had remained near the Rumbling Region while he was busy exploring the inheritance.

Those who had gone to the Fiery Lake were mostly mercenaries and assassins. They differed from Chief Ash and Lady Lena's teams since they lacked any form of backing.

Chief Ash and her team had gone to the Fiery Lake to talk with the other groups after sealing a deal with Noah. She was the only one who could force the other guilds to back away, and most of those cultivators listened to her words, especially after she mentioned Noah's liquid stage level.

However, one of them secretly remained behind and marched toward the Rumbling Region after everyone had left the area. The cultivator then settled on the landmass and waited for Noah to reappear.

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Noah left the inheritance quickly. He had already seized all the lightning bolts that he could absorb, so that place had become utterly useless to him.

He planned to tell the method to seize the inheritance to June once they managed to meet in the higher plane, but it was pointless to him to even think about that now.

When he left the cave at the peak of the mountain, his superior awareness sensed that an enemy presence was among the few trees that had survived his battle with Lady Lena.

Noah initially thought that some of the stronger beasts had become addicted to his ambition and was waiting for him to reappear, but he quickly suppressed that idea.

A magical beast hungry for his ambition would directly follow him inside the cave. The presence of Chief Ash wouldn't be enough to make it abandon a decent meal.

His enemy was somewhere on the landmass, but even his senses couldn't pinpoint its exact location.

Noah felt eager to test his new power, but the situation was too unclear for him to act freely. He returned inside the cave and activated the ability of his robe to hide his presence.

Then, he came out of the cave again and set off toward the sea of flames above the Rumbling Region. Noah would be able to return to the surface in no time if he took the right tunnels.

However, a hooded figure suddenly appeared on his path. That existence radiated power in the gaseous stage, but it stood among those flames as if they didn't affect its body.

Noah found that scene peculiar. He didn't understand why a gaseous stage cultivator would block his path. His consciousness quickly unfolded to search for other potential dangers and ambushes, but it didn't find anything.

"I'm alone," A female voice came out of the hooded cultivator.

Noah felt even more confused at that point, but he didn't let that strange event make him waste more time than needed.

"Can I help you?" Noah asked. "I'm in a hurry."

A snort resounded from the hooded figure before it turned into a shadow. Coldness came out of Noah's eyes when he saw the cultivator shooting toward him and preparing a punch that aimed at his head.

Noah raised a hand, and the punch landed on his palm. An immense force ran through his arm at that point, and his feet slid through the air as he resisted the power carried by that physical attack.

'She didn't use any spell nor technique,' Noah thought as he lowered his fingers to keep the woman stuck in his grasp.

Noah arched the fingers of his free hand before slashing at his opponent. That attack could kill any creature in the gaseous stage at that distance, but the woman threw a kick at his arm before he could complete the movement.

Her free hand then darted to throw another punch, but Noah promptly shot toward the ground without releasing his grasp on her hand. The woman could only crash on the dark-red terrain and endure the series of kicks that fell on her waist.

The woman was in a tough spot, but her robe suddenly wrapped itself around Noah's fingers and created an opportunity for her to leave his grasp. Noah couldn't stop her from escaping at a few hundred meters from him, but he didn't follow her just yet.

An aura in the liquid stage expanded in the area when the enemy took off her hooded robe. A woman with long red hair and dark eyes appeared in front of Noah, and he could inspect her real level when she stopped running.

She was a liquid stage expert with a body in the middle tier. Yet, her body featured a few details that made Noah confirm what he had guessed during that short battle.

The woman had a series of sharp teeth coming out of the sides of her mouth, and her hair resembled the fur of a certain magical beast. Her fingers also were oddly long and pointy, as if they were claws made of meat.

She was a hybrid, but that alone didn't explain why she had hidden her cultivation level and had joined the hunting group.

"It's been a long time since I've eaten a hybrid," Noah said as he walked toward the woman.

"Wait!" The woman exclaimed when she understood his intentions. "I acknowledge your strength. The Legion will open its doors for you."