Chapter 1770 - 1770. Gathering
The noise of lightning bolts cras.h.i.+ng on a metal wall welcomed Noah when he opened his eyes. Complete darkness filled his vision, but that energy felt too familiar to leave him confused.
"Thanks, Snore," Noah transmitted through the mental connection, and the snake gave voice to a happy hiss before flowing back inside the black hole.
Night and Duanlong also went back inside his body. The dragon even rubbed its head on his side before flowing into him.
"You took your time," June exclaimed when the whiteness of the world fell on her face and interrupted her training. "Everyone has come back. I"ll start the gathering."
June picked her inscribed notebook, but Noah bent toward her and moved her arm away before making her lie on the black ground. Their lips touched before she could say anything and send the mental message, so no one inside the Legion learnt about Noah"s awakening for a whole week.
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"We need a meeting now," June whispered while snuggling closer to Noah"s n.a.k.e.d c.h.e.s.t. "The world is a mess right now, and the newcomers need a plan to see that you didn"t lose your way."
"My only regret is not destroying the Immortal Lands myself," Noah sighed while c.a.r.e.s.sing June"s hair and staring at the golden dome that covered the entire black landma.s.s.
June had described part of the key changes and discoveries that had happened during his sleep when the two weren"t busy enjoying each other. Some of Noah"s fears had come true, but the situation had yet to become completely helpless.
Heaven and Earth had sent a ma.s.sive Tribulation once they discovered that the Legion"s domain had survived the apocalypse. Yet, King Elbas had completed the second array of defenses by then, and he had spent the following years improving his formation.
The Heaven Tribulation was relentless. Its lightning bolts never stopped falling toward the black landma.s.s, so King Elbas had devised a method to channel part of their energy and turn it into fuel for the formation.
Heaven and Earth changed the composition of their lightning bolts every now and then to get past that feature, but King Elbas also adjusted the formation to keep its consumption of energy to the minimum. Yet, his efforts never managed to solve the issue. His inscription would always draw a bit of power from the landma.s.s.
Destroying the Tribulation was also out of the question. Some experts had dispersed the black clouds high in the sky once, but Heaven and Earth had created a new one, making the whole effort pointless.
Alexander and the other experts who managed the whole organization had decreed to remain inside the golden dome after that event. No existence had to waste energy to pursue pointless tasks since that topic had become a major issue.
Some giants were still fighting in the vast nothingness of the s.p.a.ce inside the white sky. Most of them had successfully turned their bodies into dust and dispersed the entirety of their energy, but others were too tough to die in the span of a few hundreds of years. The materials that made them were simply too resilient.
The energy dispersed by the giant flew toward the sky instead of lingering among the currents of debris. Heaven and Earth were calling it back into the white layer covering the entire Immortal Lands, so its insides lost most of its power.
The experts needed energy to cultivate. The Immortal Lands had never lacked fuel for their bodies and dantians, but Heaven and Earth had changed that situation.
The energy contained in the black landma.s.s would eventually end since the world didn"t offer ways to replenish it. Even the mutated regions would crumble at that point, and the experts would find themselves unable to improve.
King Elbas had tried to take care of that matter by creating multiple devices that generated a pulling force and placing them all around the black landma.s.s, but his efforts had clear limits. The Legion"s domain was immense, but it didn"t cover the entire s.p.a.ce inside the sky. Most energy still flowed toward the whiteness and escaped its reach.
The situation was stable now since the giants were still busy fighting, but everything would end once King Elbas" devices and the golden dome stopped obtaining energy. The black landma.s.s would start losing power at that point, leaving the experts living on it without any nutrients.
Still, there had been some good developments in that seemingly catastrophic situation, which were the very reason why Noah didn"t fall into despair.
Sword Saint had traveled with a small group of experts toward the windy regions and had discovered that the storms of chaotic laws still lingered in those areas. Heaven and Earth"s decision to make the world crumble didn"t affect their state. Even the lands inside them had remained intact.
In theory, the storms could offer an immense source of energy that could refill the black landma.s.s for eras. After all, they were an environment meant for rank 9 existences and carried the power to rebuild the world.
However, the very nature of those lands explained why the experts didn"t try to steal their energy. Sword Saint and the others didn"t want to anger the rank 9 beings living there since they didn"t respect the limits of Heaven and Earth"s fairness.
The overall situation was grim. The Legion"s domain was moving toward certain doom, and rank 9 existences guarded the only solution to that issue. Heaven and Earth were even accelerating energy consumption with their Tribulation, so there didn"t seem to be a proper way out.
Noah had a different view about the matter, but he wanted to wait for everyone to gather in his region before revealing his grand plan. He spent the period waiting for the others enjoying his time with his lover and admiring the broken spectacle past the black edges.
Another positive event that made his mood improve concerned the various breakthrough experienced by his troops. Those who had been close to the peak of their stage had advanced, and June had been among them.
Seeing his lover catching up with his cultivation level put a smile on Noah"s face. The requirements of their laws were on completely different realms. However, Noah still felt happy that June was showing her talent after bathing in his ambition for centuries and gaining experience in crazy battles.
The various leaders eventually began to arrive, and they found a peaceful scene in that region at the edges of the black landma.s.s. June was resting in Noah"s arms, and the two exchanged many silent gazes and understanding smiles as they enjoyed each other"s warmth.
The arrival of the various higher-ups allowed Noah to understand the new level of his force. His friends from the lower plane were still in the gaseous stage, but Wilfred had successfully stepped into the solid stage in those years. Fergie had also experienced a breakthrough and had reached Noah"s cultivation level.
Only existences with power in the eighth rank or above could join that meeting, but the region became crowded anyway. The Legion and Noah"s nameless organization counted hundreds of experts at that level, and many of them were even in the higher stages and tiers of the rank.
The only exception among that powerful group was Kirk. The expert had reached the solid stage of the seventh rank, but his presence in the gathering didn"t depend on his cultivation level. His status as Noah"s heir made it possible for him to be there.
Seeing Noah and June calmly enjoying their time together made most experts recall their anger and annoyance about the whole situation. The couple wasn"t even cultivating. They felt happy even if the world had fallen apart.
A storm of questions flew toward Noah. Angry, tired, and curious experts gathered around him to probe his intentions, and the chaos forced him to release a deafening roar that silenced everyone.
"I"ll make it short," Noah explained once everyone fell silent. "We won"t steal from the storms, but we won"t let our home die either. Our target lives outside the sky."