Chapter 1548 1548. Taunts
Noah didn"t take that decision lightly. He had already considered that the Crystal City and its allies would do everything in their power to hunt him down.
Yet, that partially worked in his favor. Noah didn"t want his return into the human domain to mark the beginning of a peaceful period. He needed struggles to continue growing.
Moreover, Noah had finally touched the eighth rank. It was time to step up his game and start messing with organizations. It was impossible to seize resources that mattered at his new level without affecting other large forces.
Noah also was in desperate need of energy. His unstable substance was almost about to run out, and the weakness that he felt affected the empowerment given by his ambition.
The insane might expressed by the Demonic Form even worsened his condition. The ambition had covered most of the expenses of his superior power, but his time was running out.
Madame Canson tried to free herself from Noah"s grasp and the energies that suppressed her existence, but her efforts amounted to nothing. The black flames consumed her figure and brought her nutrients to Noah.
The black hole quickly absorbed those nutrients and began to purify them. Madame Canson was almost exhausted, but the power carried by her existence managed to bring Noah some comfort.
Still, that wasn"t enough. Noah"s cultivation level began to fall even after his black hole started to send the new energy toward his tissues. His fourth center of power didn"t know how it could fix his condition.
"I can"t return to the seventh rank," Noah calculated before glancing at the sky.
The battle against Madame Canson had dispersed the darkness acc.u.mulated in the sky. Noah could see the remains of his pack fighting against the few cultivators left, but his eyes didn"t stop at that scene.
His gaze went higher and landed on the sparks acc.u.mulated in the sky. Heaven and Earth were still ready to unleash their might, but they didn"t do anything even after the battle ended.
"What are you waiting for?" Noah wondered as anxiety built in his mind.
The battlefield was a mess. Noah"s pack had almost defeated the cultivators. Those underlings couldn"t match Fergie and the other magical beasts after losing Madame Canson"s empowerment.
The Eternal Snakes were even better off. Noah"s battle had turned the palace into dust, so Monsieur Evan couldn"t draw power from the many defenses anymore. He had to rely on his existence to fend off the enemy pack, but he was inevitably suffering from the difference in numbers and power.
Noah didn"t dare to jump among the Eternal Snakes. Monsieur Evan was their prey and trying to steal it was akin to turning those magical beasts into enemies.
Noah couldn"t even decide to fight the Eternal Snakes. He didn"t feel powerless against them anymore, but his ambition was running out. He didn"t know if his current power would last long enough to kill a few of them and escape.
His only real chance to gain a ma.s.sive amount of energy was a sudden Tribulation, but Heaven and Earth had yet to attack. They even seemed about to retreat when they sensed that Noah"s cultivation level was falling.
Noah knew that he couldn"t let that happen. Falling back into the seventh rank would trigger drawbacks that he had no hope to endure. He had to find a way to force Heaven and Earth"s hand.
"Heaven! Earth!" Noah shouted in a desperate attempt to attract the sparks" attention. "Did you forget about me? I thought you wanted to destroy me!"
The sparks continued to disperse. Noah"s taunt had no effects on the Tribulation, but that only made him chose sharper words.
"Heaven! Earth!" Noah shouted again. "What do you think about my current power? I thought you wanted me to be a counselor!"
His words failed to trigger any effect in the sparks again. Noah was running out of options, and even his cultivation level was dangerously approaching the bottom of the eighth rank.
The Demonic Deduction technique lit up. Bloodl.u.s.t filled Noah"s mind and gave him ideas on how to taunt Heaven and Earth better. He had something that they hated to the core, and his b.l.o.o.d.y thoughts gave him an idea on how to exploit that.
His aura expanded. His mental energy seeped inside the fabric of the world, and his dark world spread under him to create a dark cloud.
The matter of the world evolved under the effects of Noah"s law. The dark world also helped in the process. The sky grew darker, and the whiteness that usually filled the area transformed into lumps of black smoke that began to fight with the air.
It seemed that the matter affected by Noah"s ambition couldn"t stand the sight of Heaven and Earth"s world. It wanted to fight it for the owners.h.i.+p of that s.p.a.ce. It wasn"t willing to share anything. It only desired to spread its influence.
The existences that weren"t busy fighting turned toward Noah, but they couldn"t understand the reason behind his actions. Still, they could see the world transforming under their very eyes.
Noah wasn"t transforming that matter into an extension of himself. His ambition was freeing it of Heaven and Earth"s laws and forcing it to develop its own true meanings.
The air didn"t have a will, but Noah"s ambition forced it to obtain basic instincts. That matter suddenly began to desire, as if it were a living being of the world.
The lumps of darkness eventually sensed the energy around them, and desire filled their simple minds. They started to spread in a desperate attempt to devour that power. They even began to fight each other for the owners.h.i.+p of a chunk of the sky.
Those events had only involved a small area at the beginning, but they started to happen everywhere in the region as Noah"s influence expanded. He was giving the matter freedom, and that gave birth to the innate desire to grow stronger inside it.
"Heaven! Earth!" Noah shouted while roars fused with his human voice. "Do you recall what I represent? I am your greatest mistake, and I will make sure that the whole higher plane becomes aware of how flawed your existence is!"
Heaven and Earth couldn"t retreat anymore. Noah"s words couldn"t really taunt those mighty existences, but his actions had defied their rules enough to trigger a punishment.
A crackling noise soon filled the area. The sparks stopped dispersing and began to acc.u.mulate again. Flashes of orange light also pierced the whiteness of the sky and marked the beginning of the Heaven Tribulation.
"This isn"t enough," Noah concluded while his eyes sharpened and landed on the lumps of darkness in the region. "They aren"t aiming for me. These sparks barely have rank 8 power."
Noah needed to gather enough nutrients to fulfill the requirements of three centers of power. In his case, he necessitated far more energy than any other rank 7 existence in the world. Even some rank 8 beings couldn"t match his needs.
"You idiots!" Noah exploded into an open critique of Heaven and Earth. "They are nothing more than children of my ambition. I am the true enemy of the world. I am your first mistake!"
Noah"s aura shot upward and created a trail of darkness that connected his figure with the layer of sparks. Part of that violent power transformed into black lumps that detonated, destroying a large chunk of the Tribulation.
A heavy pressure fell on Noah at that point. He could sense an intense destructive desire enveloping his figure and triggering a change in the scene high in the sky.
A new wave of energy seeped into the sparks and altered their nature. They slowly turned white, but they were so bright that they didn"t manage to hide in the sky.
The white sparks condensed to give birth to four lightning bolts that fell around Noah. Four rank 8 auras filled the environment at that point, and Noah couldn"t help but smile when his consciousness enveloped the four humanoid crackling figures that had surrounded him.
"h.e.l.lo, Heaven," Noah welcomed his opponent while his smile broadened. "What took you so long?"