Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah waited for his form to return to its peak before exiting the cave where he rested.

He had refilled his mental sphere with "Breath" already refined for the usage of his martial art and the Sea dragon restrained inside the cave wasn't of any use to him, he simply cleaned the place before leaving.

The internal pressure caused by his new Blood companion was powerful but Noah was able to endure it, he simply had to disperse the useless "Breath" inside his mind to avoid incurring in the familiar headache.

He didn't know which route would lead him to the end of the Inheritance ground nor how far it was but staying in one place was pointless: The escape token didn't work, he could only hope to exit the dimension by exploring further.

'Those rocky buildings are the only change in the environment, they should have some clue about this place.'

Noah began to walk toward the structures that he saw in the distance, his mental energy was still restricted but his vision wasn't, the azure light radiated by the sand allowed him to use the senses of his body to their full potential.

Along the road, Noah found other hills with caves on their surface.

He was surprised to discover that there was a living dragon caged in each cave, their kinds matched those in the trials, Noah was beginning to understand the reason behind the inscriptions around their cages.

'They should be used to create the fake dragons in the labyrinth. If this hypothesis is true, then the creator of the dimension was an expert in formations and also an inscription master. This world is filled with monsters.'

Noah concluded in his mind.

According to his idea, the creator of the dimension was able to cage a large number of different dragons, create a system that kept them alive, and also set up a network that copied their forms on the building above him.

'Hypothetically speaking, this expert would be able to create an endless number of fake dragons by copying the features of an imprisoned one… This is too unreal, how many restrictions would be applied to a technique like that?'

Heaven and Earth were fair, a technique that could endlessly create copies of restrained dragons seemed simply too strong!

'Who is this person? Eccentric Thunder was a monster but his dimension only had rank 3 beasts at best, this place is on a completely different level.'

Noah knew that the answers to his many doubts could only be found at the end of the Inheritance ground, that's why he only quickly examined each cave that he found before continuing with his exploration.

It was only after a few hours of exploration that he found other humans.

Noah stopped his tracks, there were two rank 3 cultivators, a man and a woman, in front of him.

Their facial features were out in the open and their robes had the emblem of the Empire sewed on them.

'Legal organizations!'

Noah was still wearing his hood as he had that thought, he was part of the Chasing demon sect after all, his organization was still illegal on the surface.

The two cultivators also noticed Noah, they turned to look at him, showing displeased expressions when they saw his clothes.

"Unorthodox scum."

The man exclaimed as he spat on the ground to further show his disgust toward the members of the Hive.

'Of course the first people I met would be unfriendly, it would be strange otherwise.'

Noah cursed his bad luck and continued on his way, he would rather preserve his energies in that dangerous environment.

"Hey you, where are you going?"

The woman spoke but Noah ignored her, his gaze was fixed on the structures in the distance.

"Hmph!"

A loud snort resounded in the area as the woman vanished from her spot and reappeared in front of Noah, what seemed half-transparent wings were on her back as she landed in front of him.

'A movement-type spell, this might be troublesome.'

Noah evaluated as part of his attention went on the man who ran to place himself behind him, Noah found himself surrounded in a few seconds.

"Lister carefully, there is no grudge between each other so just give us the rewards of the ninth trial and we will let you go."

"If you don't…"

The man behind Noah released his pressure as he continued the woman's words.

'Right, the rewards.'

Noah's eyes shone as he remembered that detail, he had been too focused on the exploration and on the creation of the new Blood companion that he had totally forgotten that each of the cultivators he encountered in that place would have the rewards of the ninth trial with them.

'I've been too focused on finding the end of the dimension that I didn't consider the other gains available here… I've become too soft.'

Noah suppressed his laugh as he focused on his enemies, they were two rank 3 cultivators in the gaseous stage, both rank 3 mages.

Yet, their mental spheres were weaker than Noah's, he could make out most of their strength with a simple inspection.

"I might be a bit rusty at this."

Noah spoke before a shockwave resounded when he stomped the ground twice, in an instant, he appeared in front of the woman with his sabers aimed to her head.

The two of them were rank 3 cultivators, they couldn't be taken by surprise that easily.

The woman reacted quickly, a dense layer made of air appeared in front of her, ready to block Noah's assault.

At the same time, the man shot in his direction, fire came out of his hammer as he directed its trajectory toward Noah's head.

Everything seemed to happen slowly in their eyes but not even a second had passed since Noah attacked.

Noah's black sabers clashed with the spell, they weren't able to pierce the wall made of air but the woman didn't show a happy expression, her eyes sharpened when she saw that Noah didn't even use his martial art in that attack!

"Greg-"

She tried to warn the man about the possible trap but it was too late, Greg was already too close to Noah to stop his descending blow.

It was at that moment that Noah's clothes were torn apart and the sharp fangs of a dragon stabbed themselves on Greg's waist, stopping his attack and injuring him.