Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah quickly dealt with his hunger by eating some of his reserves of magical beasts' corpses. He even crushed a few Soul Stones to absorb their energy.

Using the Soul Stones for his body was a waste, but he wanted to bring his condition to its peak before facing the inheritance. Noah was also quite wealthy for his level, so he didn't mind relying on that resource.

The lightning bolts ran through the cave more often as he marched deeper into the inheritance. Noah seized those that his level could withstand and absorbed their energy to improve his body. Yet, he had to dodge those too powerful for him.

His body cheered every time the black hole sent energy to its cells. Noah was still feeling the fatigue accumulated after his battle with Lady Lena, but his fourth center of power was taking care of that.

The energy that the black hole released dispersed his fatigue and strengthened his tissues. The fourth center of power had become able to understand the flaws in his condition and rearranged the nutrients to solve them.

It was like having a personal doctor that continuously pushed his condition back to its peak. The process wasn't even slow. The black hole's power had entered a superior league after it studied the expert's individuality.

'I'm really curious about the final reward of this inheritance,' Noah couldn't help but think as he inspected his black hole.

The benefits that the lightning bolts had brought to his fourth center of power and overall existence were substantial. Noah couldn't wait to see if the lower layers of the inheritance hid something even better.

'An individuality that forces the matter to evolve,' Noah thought as a cold smile appeared on his face. 'This is perfect for my true meaning.'

A large corridor followed the large hall. Noah descended through the mountain's insides until he reached another vast room that shone with a bright orange color.

The insides of the room were different from the previous ones. Sparse sparks filled the area and floated mid-air even if their bodies carried intense violence.

Noah only needed one glance to understand that someone had already cleared that area. The sparks didn't even care about his presence since they had already completed their task.

The sparks contained energy, so Noah took his time to absorb them. He had to avoid those radiating power in the upper tier, but his improved body could withstand even those near the middle tier's peak.

Noah pressed on after clearing that room. The lack of active trials and rewards left him unsatisfied, but the energy that flowed inside his body alleviated that feeling.

A corridor that led to another large hall followed the room with the floating sparks. Noah saw a series of destroyed puppets made of lightning bolts in the new area, and he arrived at the same conclusion as before.

The level of the broken puppets gave him a vague idea of the difficulty of that trial. Most lightning bolts still carried power in the lower tier, so he didn't feel worried about the next rooms.

Noah continued his absorption of energy and exploration of the underground area. The inheritance led him toward the bottom of the mountain, at the very core that most beings never had the chance to see.

He didn't find any active trial. Someone had cleared all the rooms along the way, so he limited himself to absorb the lightning bolts on his path.

The progression of the lightning bolts' power began to worry him during the last halls. Noah had mostly found sparks in the upper tier in the previous rooms, so he felt quite sure that he couldn't overcome any test from that point onward.

However, he decided to continue his march anyway. He wouldn't give up on the free energy contained inside that long underground structure, and he wanted to see how an active trial looked like before going away.

The true meaning carried by those lightning bolts had made him interested in that expert's power. He wanted to see if an active trial could inspire him.

Noah had to cross a few more halls to find an active trial. The room that unfolded in his vision was immense and seemed to stretch until the Rumbling Region's bottom. Its width even covered half of the mountain's base.

That area resembled a huge underground hole that led toward the deepest part of the landmass. Noah could vaguely guess that reaching the bottom of that area would bring him to the last reward of the inheritance, but he had no chance to succeed in the task.

Shining lightning bolts that radiated a blinding orange light filled the hole. They flew from wall to wall to create a tight crackling net that left only a few paths open.

Those paths would change every second since the lightning bolts never stopped flying through the holes. That seemed a trial meant to test the endurance or the speed of a cultivator, but Noah knew that he couldn't overcome it.

The lightning bolts radiated the suffocating aura of the eighth rank. They were the embodiment of the expert's true meaning, and no material in the area could escape from their effects.

The dark-red terrain of the Rumbling Region had transformed as those lightning bolts kept ricocheting through the hole. Countless shining red crystals made the walls and ceiling of that area.

The ground had evolved into a completely different material, and Noah could sense its value when he inspected it with his mental waves. The crystals carried an intense sense of evolution capable of affecting their surroundings.

'These must be the best filling materials available,' Noah evaluated as he studied the area from the exit of the last corridor. 'I wish I could use them for my companions.'

Noah sat on the exit and watched the lightning bolts fly through the hole as he let his mind wander. He had already accepted that he couldn't seize those materials. Still, he wanted to experience the might of the eighth rank.

Those lightning bolts didn't only affect the environment. They actively searched for anything impure in the area to apply the evolution that they carried.

They also resonated with the environment. The walls didn't make the lightning bolts deplete part of their power when they crashed. They didn't even damage the crystals as they bounced back.

Everything in the area belonged to that peculiar true meaning. It resembled a physical domain, with matter that was part of that law.

'A small world,' Noah concluded in his mind at some point.

The hints and clues gathered during his adventures through the Immortal Lands created a clear idea of his path ahead. Noah could finally claim to have some knowledge of the cultivation journey in the divine ranks.

'I guess I will find similar scenes in all the other inheritances,' Noah thought as he stood up.

He was about to leave, but an idea had formed in his mind in front of that magnificent scene. The Hellish Landscape was full of valuable resources and inheritances, but he was only a cultivator in the liquid stage.

It had been the same during his exploration of the Pyramid. Noah was strong and unmatched among his peers, but his cultivation level made him unable to obtain the most valuable rewards of those inheritances.

'Maybe I should find Divine Demon before investing time in these places,' Noah thought as he began to leave, but a sudden dangerous sensation made him freeze.

The lightning bolts ricocheting inside the hole had ignored him while he was on the exit, but one of them separated from the main array to crash on his back right after he went back inside the tunnel.