Birth of the Demonic Sword
chapter-1492

Noah hid his presence with his inscribed robe and dived deep into the forest until he found a decent spot where to dig a cave. The magical plants around him seemed to keep track of his movements, but they didn't react even when he started breaking the terrain.

Noah had decided to venture through the magical beasts' domain, but he had a few matters to settle first. He didn't cultivate properly for a while, so a long training session had the priority.

While Noah cultivated, his mind inspected the changes that happened during his sleep and the separate space's insides.

His mind appeared sharper than before, but Noah couldn't find any trace of Supreme Thief's energy. The expert's gift had allowed him to seize the purple crystal, but Noah didn't know where that power had come from.

'What an unreliable power,' Noah thought as a helpless sigh left his mouth.

Noah could understand why he couldn't find that power. His level was too low. Supreme Thief's had been a rank 9 cultivator, so it was only normal that Noah's mind couldn't identify his influence.

'I guess I will know something more once my mind reaches the eighth rank,' Noah concluded before moving his attention elsewhere.

The Demonic Form had moved out of the separate space during his sleep. The plant was now on the insides of his chest, and its flower grew on top of the black hole.

The spell acted as a proper parasite that fed on Noah's energy. In that form, the plant didn't manage to weaken him since his natural absorption made up for that consumption. Still, he could understand that its requirements would increase once it reached higher levels.

The Demonic Form was a rank 7 living being in the upper tier that fed on Noah's four energies. It lived to destroy, but it needed a host to survive. Noah could only accept that he had gained another creature to feed before moving his attention elsewhere.

His body was perfect. The black hole had done an incredible job during the breakthrough. Noah couldn't find any flaw in his tissues. His mental walls reeked of bloodlust, but that feeling didn't affect his other centers of power.

His dantian was also about to reach the peak of the liquid stage. His potential had increased again after Noah had managed to destroy the quasi-rank 8 sphere and survive that hopeless situation. The process toward the next stage would be smooth as long as he continued to cultivate.

The separate space was almost empty. Noah had depleted his stash of magical beasts during his imprisonment, leaving him with only a few valuable materials and a pile of Soul Stones.

The raids on the guilds had been quite profitable. Noah had more than one hundred thousand Soul Stones now. Still, they were nothing more than disposable energy in the magical beasts' domain, so he didn't hesitate to use a few of them to quicken his growth.

'This is the perfect chance to use these crystals,' Noah thought when his attention went on the red minerals found in the Evolution Pit.

His separate space also contained the dark-blue boulders seized in Supreme Thief's inheritance, but that was it. Noah had a few useless potions, pills, and items, but they didn't count. Only his pile of metals and rocks mattered.

The separate space had stored something else. Noah had recovered Fergie while the rank 8 existences were fighting, but his condition had been too poor at the time.

The Crystal City and the secret organization had tortured the expert and crippled his centers of power. Fergie was on the verge of death after he endured the shockwaves released by the rank 8 experts. The black hole had deployed the dark world to create an environment where he could survive, but he couldn't live anywhere else.

Fergie would die if he left the dark world. The expert was nothing more than a corpse kept alive by Noah's technique.

Doubts filled Noah's mind when he inspected Fergie. He didn't know why the expert didn't sell him out. Luke had even confirmed that Fergie didn't reveal anything about Noah during the torture.

Noah didn't know how to react to such loyalty. He had done nothing for Fergie. He had only given voice to a vague and unrealistic promise once.

That wasn't enough to build such loyalty, especially in an expert who had to join the secret organization. Fergie could become a spy and a mercenary if his force ordered that, but he had kept Noah's information a secret even after reaching that condition.

Noah deployed the dark world around him and took out Fergie. The expert was unconscious, and the dark matter made him float in front of Noah's confused figure.

Noah had decided to save Fergie after learning about his loyalty. Yet, he now wanted to know the reason behind that behavior.

The dark world became denser, and Noah's ambition spread through the currents of dark matter. The environment transformed to force Fergie to wake up, and the expert slowly opened his eyes after those changes.

'Am I stuck in the afterlife with you?' Fergie said through his mental waves. He couldn't talk. The secret organization had broken his throat.

"You are alive, kind of," Noah replied. "I managed to drag you out."

'I guess I should be grateful,' Fergie replied as a weak smile appeared on his face. 'You sure are full of surprises. No rank 7 existence could survive that, but here you are. Regrettably, I won't see what you will become.'

Noah didn't answer. His eyes inspected his body, and his mental waves seeped inside his tissues. Fergie was too far gone to survive. Even the dark world couldn't preserve his condition forever.

'Don't look at me like this,' Fergie said as a laugh echoed through his thoughts. 'I followed my instincts. I bet on the most promising guy in the entire higher plane. I'm sure you will do great stuff in the future.'

"Why didn't you talk?" Noah finally asked. "Why did you protect me after I kept you as my slave for years?"

'You should know,' Fergie said. 'You are so sharp when it comes to what you desire, but you refuse to see this quality of your law. Do you know what your individuality does to those who follow you?'

Noah knew the answer. He had often ignored how his ambition could influence others, but he wasn't blind. His law could make his companions overcome bottlenecks and improve faster.

That feature was part of Heaven and Earth's mistake. His individuality represented the flaw in their system. It allowed Noah to influence the journeys of those who interacted with him.

Noah had confirmed that in the Mortal Lands, and the effects of his law had only become stronger in the Immortal Lands. He even suspected that King Elbas' rapid improvements were partially his fault.

"We are alone in our journeys," Noah replied. "We must walk our paths on our own. I can use this ability to control magical beasts, but I have never liked being a leader."

'It might be pointless in the grand scheme,' Fergie said, 'But I know that I reached the liquid stage thanks to your influence. I didn't even have hopes for my journey anymore, but everything changed after meeting you. To answer your question, how could I let my chance to reach the higher ranks die?'