Birth of the Demonic Sword

The scene was majestic. An entire region stood on top of the azure ground, and a palace-like building rested above it. Supreme Thief's inheritance seemed to stand on the largest mountain in the world, on a structure created only for its presence.

No wild living beings lived in the area. The Legion had scared and killed flora and fauna there when it placed the inheritance on that region. Still, Noah could sense multiple traces of life coming from the top of the immense mountain.

Ian led the duo and his group toward the inheritance, and Noah could soon see how grand Supreme Thief's creation was. The palace had an ennagonal shape, and nine towers grew from its corners. Light-azure marble covered the entire structure, except for a few large windows that reflected a dim radiance.

Each tower had nine windows, and they seemed able to radiate only two colors. Some were black, while others were white. All the white ones were near the top of the structures, while the black ones occupied their base.

The most peculiar aspect of the inheritance was that it didn't have an entrance. Its walls were smooth and without the faintest dent. The storms of laws and the passage of time didn't manage to ruin that spectacular structure.

"You must have noticed that you can't enter the inheritance through normal methods," Ian began to explain as the group landed on the vast barren plain that surrounded the structure.

Faint meanings came out of the towers. They seemed to hint at certain aspects of the cultivation journey, but Noah and Divine Demon couldn't understand them from that distance.

"The roofs of the towers are the entrances, and each tower leads to different types of trials," Ian explained. "Each trial has nine layers, and each layer has multiple challenges. You wouldn't even believe the number of separate dimensions contained in the whole structure."

Needless to say, Noah could barely bring himself to speak when he heard those words. He had explored many inheritances throughout his life, and he had even built one. However, everything paled in front of Supreme Thief's creation.

"You can open the path to the lower layer only after you complete nine challenges," Ian continued, "But that isn't the maximum number of tests that each layer contains. You can obtain rewards even in areas that we have already cleared."

"The human organizations must be desperate to find this place," Noah eventually said.

"More than desperate," Ian replied. "This inheritance alone has given to the Legion most of its current wealth. It's only thanks to Theodora and many efforts that we have managed to keep it safe from enemy hands."

"What about the trials?" Divine Demon asked.

"They have clear differences, but they tend to be less specific in the upper layers," Ian explained. "We have given names to the towers to describe the field that they test. They are strength, will, speed, defense, power, martial arts, spells, offensive inscriptions, and defensive inscriptions."

Noah and Divine Demon fell silent at that point. In their minds, they were already choosing which towers they would face first.

"Each layer has different levels of difficulty," Ian concluded. "They match to the stages of the divine ranks, so it's not a surprise that the lower ones are still dark."

That last piece of information almost made Noah go crazy. Supreme Thief wasn't only a monster who had reached the ninth rank. He had also created an inheritance that could test cultivators at the peak of the divine ranks!

That placed the palace far above the pyramid in terms of value. There was simply no point in comparing those inheritances. Supreme Thief was an unparalleled monster, and the whole world had to be grateful for his efforts in creating that inheritance.

"You can already enter," Ian said as he pointed at the towers. "Fill the roof with your mental energy, and you will teleport inside the inheritance. It's impossible to miss the paths leading to the lower layers, and the same goes for the exits. You can't get lost."

Noah and Divine Demon set off as soon as they heard those words. They couldn't hold back in front of such a valuable place. However, Ian reached them to hand one of the marked wooden tokens to Divine Demon.

"There are only hybrids in the inheritance right now," Ian said as he handed the token. "You will need to show this to reassure them."

Ian left after that last reminder, and the duo separated as they flew toward different towers. The Legion had placed banners on the roofs to describe the trials, so they could already decide where to go.

Divine Demon flew toward the roof with the banner that radiated the word "power", while Noah landed on the tower called "strength". It wasn't hard to understand which fields those words indicated, so they choose trials that matched their best qualities.

The "power" tower involved dantians, and Divine Demon couldn't wait to test his individuality its challenges. As for Noah, his physical strength was off the scale, so he had chosen the "strength" tower to see if he could find trials that hybrids at his same level couldn't overcome.

The "strength" tower had the highest number of white windows. Only three of them remained black, and that gave Noah a general idea of the Legion's power. It was clear that it had existences that could defeat tests meant for rank 8 cultivators in the liquid stage.

Noah and Divine Demon didn't exchange any last glance. They directly poured their mental waves on the blue roofs and saw the scenery in front of their eyes transforming as the teleport activated.

They couldn't bother to check their companion with Supreme Thief's inheritance under them. They could only think about all the possible rewards now.

When Noah managed to focus his vision and unfold his consciousness, he found himself in a seemingly ordinary environment filled with a faint-azure light. The fake sky had that color, but the ground radiated shades that tried to imitate the outside world.

Before he could analyze the new environment more thoroughly, a series of runes appeared in his vision and conveyed a simple message with the meanings they radiated.

'Cultivation level too high for this layer,' Noah read, 'Descend by one layer to gain access to suitable tests.'

'This restriction must be the reason why the Legion didn't manage to go too deeply in the other towers,' Noah thought as he studied the environment to learn more about that place.

Many members of the Legion didn't have individualities and had a low aptitude toward certain fields. The fact that each layer applied restrictions to the contenders' level had forced those hybrids to focus on towers where the power of their species could shine. Still, it made them disregard the others.

'The "strength" tower must be popular among the hybrids,' Noah guessed, 'But my superior abilities don't involve only my physical strength. I might have a chance to seize multiple rewards in the other towers if the situation is like this.'

A vast prairie expanded from his position and ended in different environments. Noah could see a tall forest, a mountain, and a small stream, but the pillar of white light shining in the distance claimed most of his attention.

'The passage for the lower layer must be there,' Noah thought before moving in the direction of the pillar of light.