Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah and the others left the domes and blue lands right away. They were already late, but they didn't care about that issue. They simply couldn't wait to start the mission and explore the other side of the Immortal Lands.

King Elbas, Wilfred, Divine Demon, Fergie, Luke, Noah, and the Foolery left and flew across countless regions to reach their destination. They could teleport, but they didn't trust the human forces enough to go there without inspecting the environment.

Noah also wanted to fly across the sky to let Heaven and Earth's pressure improve his mind. Devouring Alexander's ethereal creatures had made his mental sphere quite frail, and Noah wanted to get rid of that flaw right away.

The human forces waited patiently for the experts' arrival. Noah's evaluation had been on point. Those organizations were quite desperate for the Legion's help in the mission.

King Elbas made sure that the regions didn't have any trap or sensor. The group could safely fly toward their destination and inspect the power deployed by the human organizations.

Multiple families had decided to join the mission, and Luke described all of them before the experts met. They had also agreed to send only three liquid stage existences each, so there were less than thirty cultivators in the area.

"I thought we said that the mission was dangerous," One expert from the Rotway family shouted when it gazed at Noah's group.

'He is Harold Rotway,' Luke explained through his mental waves. 'It's rare to see him out in the human domain since he takes care of few mines of Soul Stones.'

Harold's eyes were on the Foolery. He could accept that Noah brought existences in the gaseous stage, but he didn't understand how a magical beast could help.

Moreover, the magical beasts were Heaven and Earth's enemies, while the mission required them to help those rulers. Harold obviously had doubts about that creature.

"You can try to convince it to remain behind," Noah sighed. "We all tried."

The Foolery took that remark as a compliment and raised its head. The gesture left the human experts confused, but Noah's group acted as if nothing unusual was happening.

"We are ready to leave then," Gloria Sailbrird announced once Noah's group landed on the ground.

"Yes, but I'd like to say something before the mission," Noah said and claimed the experts' attention.

"I still have my doubts about this whole quest," Noah explained. "I don't trust you, and I have every reason to treat you as enemies. I wouldn't even decide to cooperate with you if the mission weren't so interesting."

Coldness seeped into his aura, and the same happened to his companions. King Elbas and the others wore stern expressions as they eyed the human experts.

"We have already proved our worth," Noah continued. "The human domain couldn't stop us. The Crystal City has also failed to win after resorting to petty schemes."

The human experts began to understand where Noah was going. He was giving voice to a threat meant to remind them about his power.

"We will kill all of you if this is a trap," Noah concluded. "We will remove your name from the historical records and destroy every trace of your existence. You will fail if you dare to test us."

The atmosphere turned tense. The human experts could immediately understand that Noah was serious, and a chill ran down their spine when they sensed his cold aura.

Noah was still a gaseous stage expert, but it was clear that his battle prowess went far beyond that. Those cultivators were theoretically stronger than him, but they felt weaker in front of his might.

A few snorts and a couple of laughs eventually resounded among the human experts. They decided to remain silent in front of that threat. Accepting Noah's words was the only way to make him cooperate.

"The passage to the other side is nearby," Gloria explained. "We don't know when it opened, but we are certain that Heaven and Earth are behind that."

"How can you even decide to side with Heaven and Earth after living for so long?" Wilfred complained.

"We didn't," Gloria replied. "Our organizations have experts connected to that power, but we merely exploit it. We aren't so crazy to curse our lives before hitting the ninth rank."

"What about them?" Noah asked while glancing at the trio without emblems.

Those three experts came from the secret organization, and Luke recognized only one of them.

'The red-haired woman is Althea,' Luke explained through his mental waves. 'She is strong even among the liquid stage.'

"Heaven and Earth are the very world," Althea replied while wearing a peaceful smile. The cultivation journey forces us to fight them, but it doesn't prevent us from seeking their help. They are power, and power is innocent."

Noah and the others couldn't see Heaven and Earth in the same way, and even some experts among the cultivators didn't agree with Althea's words. They had experienced those rulers' suppression throughout their life, so they couldn't consider them innocent.

Silence fell among the group after those short exchanges. The experts flew through the regions and eventually reached a deep ravine filled with white light.

The ground of the Immortal Lands usually had azure shades, but that whiteness matched the sky's color. It was almost obvious that Heaven and Earth had something to do with that structure.

"Did you explore something already?" King Elbas asked as a series of inscribed items came out of his space-ring.

Sensors and items meant to study the ravine spread through the structure and sent data back to his mind. King Elbas could instantly learn some important information, and he even confirmed the presence of Heaven and Earth's aura.

Yet, King Elbas couldn't sense anything past the edges of that massive hole. Something was blocking his items. It was as if the insides of the ravine led to a different dimension.

"We didn't dare to go past its edges," Gloria explained. "I believe you can sense it too. Heaven and Earth want us to reach the other side quickly."

Noah glanced toward King Elbas, but the expert could only shrug his shoulders. Gloria had spoken the truth, but the problem remained. He couldn't understand what was waiting for them.

"It's similar to a dimensional passage," King Elbas said. "It won't lead us directly on the other side, but it will shorten our journey consistently. I can't speak about eventual threats, sadly."

'A dimensional tunnel shouldn't have a fauna,' Noah thought before landing on the edges of the ravine.

His consciousness spread, and his instincts took over his senses. Noah tried to understand whether the dimensional tunnel leaked something that could clear his doubts, but nothing came out of it.

"We tried everything already," Harold snorted. "How could you discover something that we couldn't find?"

A laugh followed his comment, and a tense aura began to build between the experts from the Rotway family and Noah's group.

"Divine Demon," Noah suddenly said without moving his eyes from the white depths of the ravine, "I bet you can't tell me whether magical beasts live inside this tunnel."

"Everyone knows that my divinatory techniques stand at the peak of the higher plane," Divine Demon shouted before closing his eyes.

The world began to send energy toward his mind, and an ethereal cloud soon appeared around his head. An azure light also seeped out of Divine Demon's closed eyes and illuminated the area.

"A species capable of moving through dimension is currently in control of the dimensional tunnel," Divine Demon revealed in an ancient voice. "The species' name is Space Hounds. They might also have a rank 9 specimen among them."