Chapter 1387 1387. Shadows
The Outer Lands weren"t a fixed place. Cultivators gave that name to all the regions outside of the human and magical beasts" domains, so their actual width was unclear.
Noah and Divine Demon marched for years, avoiding any human settlement that they found on their path. They had caused enough trouble already, and Chief Taylor was alive, so it was better to remain anonymous for the moment.
Their march was peaceful and filled with breaks spent conversing or cultivating. Divine Demon"s aura scared away most magical beasts, and Noah"s superior awareness allowed them to avoid any dangerous lair.
The two grew closer and learnt each other"s characters during their travel. Their personalities had many common points, so they got along well and never second-guessed their decisions. They had become a well-oiled team in a matter of months.
The scenery slowly changed as they ventured farther away from the center of the human domain. Fewer settlements appeared on their path, replaced by multiple danger zones that featured various packs fighting over territories.
The magical beasts occupied every inch of the Immortal Lands. If it weren"t for the cultivators defending their borders and sealing pacts with them, those creatures would have already conquered the entirety of the higher plane.
The environment also went through some changes as their march continued. The regions became wilder, and soft winds started to blow from time to time. Noah didn"t need any explanation to recognize them. They were the same gales made of laws found in Shandal"s separate dimension.
"The farter you go, the more intense these winds get," Divine Demon explained as they flew above a barren mountain chain. "They come from the edges of the Immortal Lands, where new territories appear every decade."
"Do Heaven and Earth never stop building?" Noah asked as he absorbed the laws that his destruction turned into primary energy.
"Who knows," Divine Demon replied. "Seeing the edges of the higher plane isn"t an easy feat. Only truly powerful existences can reach them due to the barrier of storms."
"Have you ever traveled there?" Noah asked.
"Once, but there isn"t much to see," Divine Demon answered. "You might get lucky and see a mountain appearing out of nowhere when you are there, but that"s it. I went only to learn how the Immortal Lands worked, and I came back with more doubts than answers."
"The all-expanding theory isn"t enough?" Noah continued to question the expert.
"It is correct, but far from enough," Divine Demon said as he pointed toward the horizon. "Where do Heaven and Earth even take the energy to build so many territories? Why do that at all? It would be easier to find answers if we were to observe the Immortal Lands from outside, but only those with a death wish leave the white sky."
The duo had conversed about those topics multiple times already. Noah didn"t need to question the expert again to understand the meaning behind his words.
The white sky had holes equipped with dimensional tunnels that connected the higher plane with the lower ones. Powerful existences could theoretically fly through them and arrive in the void, but that effort was quite pointless.
The Immortal Lands had expanded for eras, and the same went for the white sky that enveloped them. Even powerful divine cultivators would take millennia to travel to the edges of Heaven and Earth"s system to watch it in its entirety.
That wasn"t even the main issue in the matter. The whiteness of the sky was blinding, and it hid its various holes. It was impossible to find the way back inside the higher plane once flying out of it.
Divine cultivators could survive in the void, but they couldn"t live inside it. That environment lacked any form of nutrients, so their energy would slowly deplete until nothing remained of them.
The travels through the void were also dangerous since it was hard to understand where to go. Shandal had felt confident in the task because King Elbas" dimensional tunnel acted as a signal, but no cultivator would normally choose to venture there.
"It would be feasible if we knew how big the Immortal Lands are, but alas," Divine Demon eventually concluded before heaving a helpless sigh.
The storms of laws were too intense near the higher plane"s edges, so no one knew for how long they continued. The cultivators had also forgotten how big the magical beasts" domain was since the wars with those creatures always forced them to migrate at some point.
The picture of the Immortal Lands that had formed inside Noah"s mind was quite simple. He imagined the magical beasts" domain as cancer that continued to expand and the human domain as a white spot that never stopped retreating.
Countless regions called Outer Lands surrounded them, and their unclear width made any attempt to calculate the exact size of the Immortal Lands impossible.
The outside exploration was also impossible due to the threatening properties of the void and that unclearness. Even if powerful explorers prepared themselves for the task, they would risk spending pointless millennia searching for the end of the white sky.
"We can only accept this prison as long as we remain simple G.o.ds," Noah added at some point.
"You need to become an existence capable of producing "Breath" or something similar," Divine Demon replied. "Maybe that"s what Heaven and Earth are trying to do. We might be nothing more than keys opening the path to the tenth rank."
The duo couldn"t have proper answers. Theirs were only hypotheses generated after studying the clues in the Immortal Lands. Their cultivation level was too low to have any certainty in that matter.
"How long till we reach the Legion?" Noah asked after the second decade of travel went by.
"We are already in its domain," Divine Demon replied. "They are probably trying to find someone in the solid stage because of me."
"Don"t start with your challenges," Noah said as soon as he saw the redness radiated by Divine Demon"s eyes becoming more intense. "I need them as allies to learn what they have discovered about the hybrid statues."
"Can"t you kill them and seize their studies?" Divine Demon asked as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"I don"t know where they keep their resources," Noah replied. "I also expect them to have rank 8 hybrids in their ranks. Their sole thought is enough to destroy me."
"Peaceful it is," Divine Demon quickly gave up arguing with Noah.
Divine Demon only wanted to win his challenges, so he didn"t care how his relations.h.i.+p with the Legion ended up being. Instead, Noah was different. He needed those creatures to see if its members had created something to implement his battle style.
Noah suddenly stopped as their march continued. Divine Demon turned toward him to understand what was happening, and Noah"s expression revealed everything he needed to know.
Multiple presences had appeared around them. Noah didn"t know from where they had come out nor where they were hiding, but he couldn"t see any of them from his position.
The region had nothing more than a few short mountains and rocky terrain. Hiding there was virtually impossible, but Noah"s senses weren"t lying.
Before he could reply to Divine Demon, two shadows came out of the terrain and charged at him. Noah didn"t even think in that situation. His hand shot forward, and he found two hands stuck in his grasp.