Reaper of the Martial World

Book 4: Chapter 72: Blood

Dyon’s heart beat wildly. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him.

It felt as though everything in his world was crumbling.

His knees that he had long since lost control of due to Patriarch Ragnor’s influence began trembling violently. Waves of tremors tore through his soul, threatening to separate it from his body. Even his eyes turned a blood read color, struggling against his instinct to drop everything and run, even if it meant his death.

Fear.

That’s what Dyon was feeling. An emotion he couldn’t remember ever experiencing in his life. This was the first time Dyon felt a pressure that surpassed his own father’s by so much that his veil of arrogance and disdain for the world was completely torn from him.

Dyon had faced the martial world without any cultivation. He had boldly exposed the plans of a God Clan and provoked too many of them to count. He faced armies of hundreds of thousands with a smile on his face. He sacrificed his himself without hesitation and dove head first into torrents of death qi.

He had faced the anger of the universe itself!

Not once in all that time had Dyon felt this feeling… This feeling of absolute suppression and despair…

Patriarch Ragnor’s hand involuntarily shivered on Dyon’s shoulder, but he quickly stabilized himself. As for Elder Daiyu who was the closest, he showed no signs of trepidation. After all, he was without a doubt the firmest in his martial way, despite the shattering of his dao.

In addition, Dyon was correct. The distance between them and the hand was unfathomable. The fact it looked to be a hands length away was simply a testament to how absurdly large it was.

Elder Daiyu turned a gaze back to see Dyon’s sorry state, seemingly having expected this. Sometimes with how he acted, Elder Daiyu would completely forget this boy’s age. But, when you really put things into perspective, he really was just a sixteen-year-old child… Even if he was hundreds of years old, in any universe worth its salt, he would merely be a member of the younger generation.

There is a pinnacle of cultivation that one catch reach that surpasses a dao. It’s a mythical state that seeks to trample over the laws of the universe themselves. What is a dao if not for a philosophy? And yet aren’t there too many of them? Don’t they often clash? How can a dao be an absolute truth if there are other supposed absolute truths that directly counter it?

Patia-Neva attempted to follow the absolute path, and yet stumbled and fell. To him, that sort of dao was a façade – nothing but a shallow construction. And yet, many others had formed a dao using the same principles Patia-Neva tossed away! So what was truth? What was the pinnacle of being? Of existing?

The answer to these questions were what true martial artist sought. The presence of this path was exactly why one couldn’t hope to rely on the cultivation of another to transcend. It was why despite the shattering of his dao, Elder Daiyu’s mentality was as calm as the surface of a lake.

When one approached this state, its said that their martial path becomes so fierce that it disdained the path of others. Upon approaching this state, with a simple thought, you could destroy the cultivation of another.

It was this state that made Dyon’s energy cultivation technique so important. The suppression of stepping into some else’s universe was far too great unless you had the power to look down on everything with disdain…

This suppression was what Dyon was experiencing right now – except on an entirely otherworldly level. It was a mere hand, and yet its presence threatened Dyon’s very existence…

The entity wasn’t even aware of their appearance. Would you be aware of an ant crawling thousands of miles from yourself? And even if you were, would you care?

And yet, the mere pressure of his martial path made Dyon understand very well that if he approached… The only result would be death…

Suddenly, a thought other than fear crossed Dyon’s mind.

Everything that he had suffered. That his parents had suffered. That his master had suffered. This his world had suffered. Everything. It was because of this person.

This person that saw his existence as so much more lofty than anything else that he didn’t think twice before using the lives of billions for his own pleasure.

‘This is your fault!’

“Ah, so the arrogant boy does have things he’s afraid of. How adorable.” Patriarch Ragnor laughed lightly.

But, that was the moment that Dyon’s fear turned to anger. The demonic blood within his roared, sending popping sounds through his body as his shoulder bulged out of Patriarch Ragnor’s clamping hand.

The corridors violently shook under Dyon’s anger. His only thoughts were of seeing that entity die beneath his feet. To show it that there was no arrogance above his in existence.

Regardless of the celestial energy Patriarch Ragnor circulated into Dyon, there was no stopping what was occurring.

In an instant, a barrier that should have been as difficult as crossing an abyss to leap over shattered.

14.9%…. 14.91%… 14.92%….

14.95%….

14.98%….

14.99%…

15%

All of Dyon’s wounds and fatigue were washed over be a dense saint energy, sending his blood vigorously pumping through him as his bones reached another level of toughness.

There was nothing in the world that could stop such a perfect breakthrough…

Dyon had touched upon what it meant to be a demon in his fight with Femi… He touched upon what it meant to be a sovereign in fight with death… And that all culminated in this moment where he did something very few could ever accomplish…

There was a reason ancestors didn’t simply hand all of their essence blood to the most talented of the next generation… The amount of tenacity needed to defy heaven’s laws in such a way was unprecedented… It wasn’t a matter of simply having more blood to absorb, you also needed the comprehension and will power to do so, or else the blood with simply be wasted.

If you then realized you had given all of your essence blood to an unworthy genius, what solution would there be then? The only option would be to forcefully extract the remaining amount… But, that was a pain very few had the mental fortitude to survive. You’d get the blood back, but you’d lose the genius you thought was good enough for it all in the first place!

Patriarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu froze. Before this moment, whether they said it out loud or not, they had both written off Dyon’s talent as something unearned. As something he simply lucked into…

That was why Elder Daiyu, nor Patriarch Ragnor, had ever taken Dyon too seriously – nor did they feel that their younger generation members were inferior…

But in that instant… The instant where Dyon forged himself a saint body, something very few could boast…

They realized that just maybe, there was more to this story than they had previously assumed…

Just maybe… It wasn’t luck…

After their initial surprise, clarity returned to the eyes of the two elders.

“Anger is useless to you here,” Elder Daiyu said calmly. Despite his outward appearance, waves of shock were rippling through his heart.

The only reason he was able to shield himself from the fear of this entity was not only because of the distance between them and it, but also because he had felt the pinnacle of what it meant to be right beside it… He would never forget that moment.

He, as a peak dao formation expert, a mere step from becoming a half step transcendent, had immediately fallen to his knees…

The entity hadn’t released any technique, he hadn’t manifested his aura or domain… No, all he had done was sweep a gaze over Elder Daiyu, and he broke down in an instant…

The most shocking part about that event was something Elder Daiyu himself was too ashamed to admit and it was something only he had a high enough cultivation to pick up on at the time… And it was likely a secret that he’d take to his grave…

And yet this child had torn through that feeling in a fraction of a second? Even Elder Daiyu had to suppress the feeling!

‘He’s not merely suppressing it…’ Elder Daiyu frowned. ‘He’s quite literally no longer feeling it. Is it possible to adapt so quickly?’

Dyon’s sharp eyes turned from the entity in the distance and trained onto Elder Daiyu. “Save me your bullshit.”

Elder Daiyu could tell that, for some inexplicable reason, this child hadn’t resigned to his fate yet. Did he think that because there were only two of them left that he’d find a way to escape? Even if he somehow managed to do such a thing, he’d die in these tunnels. There was no one in this universe with high enough space will comprehension to navigate these tunnels without a cheat. And Dyon definitely didn’t have that cheat.

Even then, that was a secondary problem he wouldn’t even have the opportunity of lamenting. There was no way he could defeat Patriarch Ragnor.

Elder Daiyu shook his head and took a step into the world, following closely behind by a Patriarch Ragnor that kept his hand clamped to Dyon’s shoulder, effectively controlling his movements.

**

“Madeleine, no!” Ri refused adamantly. Regardless of whether Madeleine gave up the faith seed willingly or not, it would still severely weaken her for an extended period of time – it might even cause permanent damage!

The longer one spent with a faith seed, the more it integrated with one’s self. Although Madeleine hadn’t spent an exorbitantly long time with it, because of the talent given to her by her God constitution, her speed at integrating the once unfamiliar faith seed far exceeded most.

As an example, when Caedlum first met Dyon, the reason he didn’t learn demonic will as quickly as Dyon, which resulted in him missing most of the events, was because he had yet to awaken his faith seed.

This same logic was applied to Vidar. Although he had known about his faith seed for a long time, he had tried again and again only to fail in awakening it – much to the disappointment and disdain of his father. In the end, he was able to forcefully awaken it using Ragnor family experiments. This was the reason for all of the scars along his body… However, this was also the reason he was so weak in comparison to the power his faith seed should provide…

In the end, this was why a faith seed wasn’t the end all and be all of talent. It was the reason why the Demon Sage was able to look down on the Pakal clan with disdain for having chosen someone less talented simply due to a faith seed.

However, because of Madeleine’s speed of integration, even to the point where she’s already comprehended several legacy techniques, it was all the more detrimental to remove the seed from her. If she gave it up, especially in her currently severely weakened state… Ri didn’t want to think about what the consequences would be.

Madeleine smiled weakly, still lying comfortably on cushions furniture. “He sacrifices too much for us, it’s the least I could do… I know if you were in my position, you wouldn’t hesitate either…”

“But… We don’t even know if he can really do what he says he can!” Ri grit her teeth.

Ri wasn’t worried about the danger. But, how could infiltrating the Belmont Holy Land be so easy? Especially when that’s exactly what they’ll be expecting?

Just because Dyon often figured things out quicker, didn’t mean that Ri and Madeleine weren’t intelligent in their own right. Ri had witnessed how much importance the Daiyu placed on Meiying and Jade’s abilities. From her understanding, they both had special abilities pertaining to searching for things. The only people they had here who could do such a thing would be either her father or Little Lyla. The problem was that her father was the only one powerful enough to stabilize and maintain her mother’s health right now, and she would rather die before she sent a little girl into such a dangerous situation just because she would be of use.

“You clearly have a lack of understanding about the land they’ve taken your husband into. Why do you think a legacy the Belmont’s were sworn to protect didn’t appear at the Earth Gate, but rather the Naiad Gate?” Lionel said slowly.

Ri’s brow furrowed. She had thought of this briefly, but had pushed it to the back of her mind since it seemed irrelevant.

“The Belmonts didn’t lose charge of what we were protecting. All of the gates in this quadrant are connected by unfathomable space will. Earth’s Gate just happens to be the center of it all for reasons I don’t have an explanation for.”

How could Ri not understand the reason? It was without a doubt the Epistemic Tower.

“However, that’s irrelevant. The point is how could the protectors not understand how to navigate around what they’re protecting?”

Ri frowned. “Prove it first.”

“As insurance, Madeleine must come. As soon as I prove my ability to help, she must hand the faith seed to me. Only then will we proceed.”

“Ridiculous! She’s already weak. If you take it then, she’ll be even weaker!”

Lionel still seemed unperturbed. “Your husband hides it well, but I’m almost certain at this point that he has a treasure that is capable of holding human lives. It was just confirmed for me when these ten people showed up out of nowhere.” Lionel looked toward the ten demon generals Dyon had left behind. “And, if he’s as intelligent as he claims to be, he would have left such an important treasure to you before he left. I’m 70% sure you have it with you now. Use it.”

Although Ri’s frown deepened on the outside, she inwardly smirked. ‘You’re too smart for your own good, husband…’

“Keep whatever limit of people you can within that treasure, because only you and I can enter. When the time is right, they’ll have to be the ones who save Dyon.” Lionel continued. “Just to be clear, I am only a guide. After I do my duty and receive my payment, I’ll be leaving. Whether you can navigate your way back out will be up to you.”

Ri struggled with her decision, but in the end, she nodded. She had no choice but to hope that the strength of the demon generals would be enough. With any luck, they’ll be able to at least help Dyon a bit…

Then, Ri crushed an array plate Dyon had made, causing the demon sage’s tower to disappear from sight. With a sweep, Ri took everyone the entire tower into the spatial ring after they left the surroundings of the arena under the shocked gazes of the warring clans around them.

Ri didn’t forget to take up the celestial puppet Dyon had been forced to leave behind. It would hopefully be useful, even if she couldn’t control it.

Soon, it was only her and Lionel Belmont in the desolate Arena City.

“Let’s go.”

Near the center of the Belmont Holy Land, Dyon, Patriarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu walked through the fields of grass.

The closer they got to the hand, the less even Patriarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu were able to keep their composure. It had been a long time since Elder Daiyu lost his nonchalance as it became more and more difficult to walk and breathe. However, their goal wasn’t to reach the hand itself – that would be nothing short of suicide.

Their destination had been purposefully placed. It had to be close enough to the entity to mean something, but it also had to be far enough that they could play their part without dying.

Swirls of red and blue flames danced on Elder Daiyu’s palms, seemingly acting like guides. They only pointed in the same direction simultaneously when they faced the correct direction.

Everything about this was odd to Dyon. If this was truly meant to be a prison, why were Belmont family flames capable of leading the way?

For one, Dyon had a certain degree of certainty that this was a prison. Not only was the hand clearly chained, the entrance was sealed within a land that could usually only be accessed by a single family – a single family whose king was clearly opposed to this.

Dyon considered the idea of King Belmont being a traitor, but King Acacia wasn’t Jade. His True Empathy was the true-blue form of the technique. He couldn’t be tricked like Dyon tricked Jade. For them to have worked so close all of this time, King Acacia would have without a doubt been able to tell.

It was true that King Acacia disappeared eleven years ago, but they had clearly been close friends long before then. In addition, King Acacia’s True Empathy was restored fully, although his cultivation wasn’t. That meant if King Belmont was a part of this plan, King Acacia would have known as late as today! That’s something important enough that he would have found a way to tell Dyon – because that would mean having to be wary of the entire Belmont family!

However, the problem was that the place they were leading Dyon had to be related to the seal on his world.

The seal should be of benefit to the entity while the prison was a detriment… So why would the flames of the people who wished to harm the entity, lead to a place that would help him?…

Before Dyon could finish his thoughts, Elder Daiyu stopped walking as the flames in his hand flew out of his control.

They slammed into seemingly empty space, once again combining into a beautiful violet light.

The temperature raised rapidly, burning away the large portions of the grass field and revealing a stone array hundreds of meters wide and so complex that Dyon couldn’t see through it… The array theory was far beyond anything he had ever seen before… Even his master’s memories didn’t have a match for it!

Violet flames embedded themselves into the array, gently lighting it.

The shifting parts of the array began to spin violently, changing the conformation again and again as the stone platform raised a meter from the ground before stopping abruptly.

An ancient bell rang, but the deep reverberation was something much more profound than heaven’s chimes. It felt as though that its every sound resonated with the very world, causing the laws of the universe to sing along with it.

And yet, just as quickly as everything seemed happy, an eerie darkness shattered the holy chimes.

The stone platform cracked open, sliding apart as tremendous earth quakes filled the inner world.

In an instant, the world shifted from a resounding happiness to an anger so deep and foreboding that it matched the feeling welling up in Dyon’s heart. Everything screamed that this shouldn’t exist, that it had no place in world, and here it was.

Down in the stone opening, lay three semi spheres radiating a power to vast and unimaginable that the hand in the far distance was completely forgotten…

In two of these semi spheres lay two blinding bulbs of light, pulsating with such speed that they almost looked at though they weren’t moving at all.

Within one, Dyon’s 6^th sense felt a striking physical prowess. It was a path of dominating the universe with little else than one’s body – the epitome of what it meant to be a body cultivator. However, there was no imbalance like what Dyon felt…

With the demon sage’s blood running through him, Dyon constantly felt an unparalleled thirst for anger and revenge, but he also felt an unbridled lust – something he, himself could hardly control. If it wasn’t for his overwhelming will power, and the love he held for his wives, it would have long broken him. This problem had followed him long since the Elvin Kingdom, however, he had continually suppressed the feeling…

However, this bulb reached a balance of pure perfection. It wasn’t a prowess of just power and strength. It was also fluidity, and gentleness. It wasn’t just overwhelming weight, capable of shattering space itself. It was also as light as a feather and as free as the wind..

The other bulb of light held a connection to the universe Dyon had never felt before. He could see that it was there with his eyes, but the level of energies it contained was so far beyond his comprehension that his 6^th sense screamed to him that nothing was there at all…

‘This… This is everything that was stolen from us…’ Flames of black crackled in his eyes.

As Dyon peered into what the stone platform revealed, he couldn’t help but recall words Elder Daiyu had spoken to him when last they met… 

Dyon memory was unparalleled. He could remember the words exactly as they were said, even to the most minute of details and voice inflections.

“You’re from the mortal realm of this planet,” He had said… “Yet you protect those of the martial realm… I wonder if you’ll do the same once you know the truth…”

Heat pumped off of Dyon’s body as the burned the image of the sacrifice of his home into his memory, knowing that the people he had called allies… The person that he called father in law… And mother in law… The person he called master… Were all guilty of the same evil of the person he hated most in this world…

In the skies above the sky of Earth, a devastating battle was still taking place.

King Belmont furiously fought against three enemies at once – all heads of their own respective God Clans, but he held his own. He had spent years in seclusion, doing nothing but training for this moment, and yet he still felt so useless.

His flames of red and blue seemed to want to fuse to violet, but it was exceedingly difficult to do so in battle. Although his eyes had long since lost the patented Belmont double red and blue colors, his flames still struggled to do so.

Quite frankly, Amethyst was too much of an anomaly. Even when her mother became pregnant, she didn’t dare to believe it. In the beginning, the ice phoenix that birthed Amethyst had resigned herself to never having children when she ran from her clan with her husband… This made the day of Amethyst’s birth both an ungodly catastrophe as well as it being a miracle among miracles.

Truth be told, King Belmont had it easy. He wasn’t trying to fuse the life and reincarnation aspects of the flame, he only wanted to do so for the most basic fire and ice properties of the flames, but even that was nearly impossible.

With this level of difficulty, one can only imagine the level the arrays of the Belmont Holy Land had reached to be capable of forcing these violet flames into existence…

‘I have to hurry. There’s no telling what could be happening!’ King Belmont’s attacks increased in speed as a fiery aura erupted around him, bearing down on his opponents with his rudimentary domain.

In an instant, the pressure felt by the Planet Deimos God Clan Heads and Kami God Clan Head increased manifold.

Auras had different capabilities, but all of them revolved around creating a space where an expert bent the laws of the universe to his or her whim. As one might guess, this used up a ridiculous amount of stamina, which is exactly why few bother to use theirs – mostly because the gain isn’t worth it for many.

However, King Belmont was different. He had spent centuries learning to fuse his flames. But, time and time again he failed. So, he decided instead of bending to the will of the universe, he would bend it to his own!

The day he finally stepped into the celestial realm was the day he made this revelation and finally formed his own aura – allowing him to finally sense celestial energy! His rudimentary domain was one that broke the laws of the universe as we know it.

King Belmont’s flames of red and blue, the very same flames that clashed, but never fused, instantly stopped struggling, combining into one seamless flame of dazzling violet.

‘I have to hurry!’

“COME!” He roared into the abyss of space, stars twinkling as his backdrop.

**

Patia-Neva, too, was pushing forward with all of his might, knowing that time was of the essence. He didn’t know what was going on below, but he knew that they were outnumbered and that one of his opponents had already broken away! Although he could see everyone he had begun to fight with, it had taken him too long to realize Matriarch Niveus was missing!

Even worse, the moment they had stepped out above the planet they called home, Patriarch Clyte had laughed sinisterly and called upon all three of the Clyte family ancestors! This was why King Belmont was being forced to fight three at once, while the Elvin elders and Patriarch Pakal split the rest.

The situation couldn’t be any worse, but a fuel of hope was raging within Patia-Neva. He understood more than anyone that if he recovered his comprehension and rebuilt his one with heart with a foundation he believed in, his power would once again become unmatched! If he could manage to rid himself of his demons, saving everyone wouldn’t be a pipe dream. But, doing something like this was as difficult as ascending the heavens.

The laughs of King Clyte as he continually summons wind will to compress and explode was sinister and dark. It was clear that in their collaboration as allies, the Clyte and Horus clans had traded legacies amongst themselves – why else would King Clyte be able to use a technique to eerily reminiscent of the dead Ode Horus?

“You seem to be struggling, Ramiro. What’s wrong?” King Clyte cackled. “For years you were my most hated adversary, but now that I think about it, why should I be angry at all?”

Patia-Neva’s focus threatened to waver under King Clyte’s taunts, but this was what he needed. He needed to confront these things or he’d never be able to rebuild his dao…

“It was I who destroyed your family and slaughtered man, woman and child. And when you really think about it, it was I who stole YOUR wife, not the other way around,” King Clyte laughed like a maniac as the explosions grew more violent. “I fucked her day and night for years, venting my every frustration. I didn’t even miss a single hole! It was some of the best I’ve ever had, but it grew stale quickly, so I chose to forget about her. Who would have thought that you would come along and pick up my sloppy seconds? To even birth a child with such a slut? Have you no shame?”

Hearing those words, Patia-Neva’s progress seemed to stall and shatter. He wanted to bury himself in the deepest abyss and face the worst kind of punishment for what he had done…

But then, the words of his wife and daughter rang in his ears… Sometimes the hardest thing to do was to forgive yourself, and maybe Patia-Neva didn’t deserve even that…

He had sacrificed everything so that he could be ready and powerful enough for this very day, and yet at the last moment, he wavered, allowing his resolve to shatter. A small part of him thought that if he had just killed Delia on that day, he would have been powerful enough to stop all of the deaths that had occurred today… Wouldn’t one death be worth saving billions?…

In the end, the sacrifice of his clan meant nothing. The sacrifice of his wife?… Nothing… His sacrifices?… Worst than nothing…

The memory of the tears that flooded the eyes of his wife and daughter filled his mind… For them… For them he had to forge onward…

‘I’ll make sure they meant something.’

Patia-Neva had a faint inkling that he had no choice… Whether they survived this or not, all rested on his shoulders, because without an intent as powerful as his was at its peak, there was no chance in fighting a peak first grade celestial expert like Patriarch Ragnor…

Anger… Dyon had ceased truly understanding the emotions he was feeling.

A constant weight threatened to crush his chest… His eyes were bloodshot, yet black and dense flames danced within them… And yet he also felt conflicted and confused… Was there really no good in the martial world?…

Elder Daiyu and Patriarch Ragnor could only look over at Dyon in shock.

This area was nothing like the entrance. They were many times closer and the pressure was so palpable that even they couldn’t ignore it anymore. Even worse, when they opened up the stone monument, the pressure had increased again!

It felt like they were looking into the laws of the universe itself, as though they were wallowing in dense Gama energy. And yet, the only feeling coming from this boy wasn’t fear, but anger.

Elder Daiyu, with all of his experience of the world, could tell that this boy was trying to cling onto his humanity with everything he had. He was fighting not for the sake of his enemies, or even himself… He was fighting for the sake of his loved ones…

However… He was losing…

How could Elder Daiyu comprehend the thoughts running through Dyon’s mind right now? How could he know that the words he had said – words he had paid a heavy price to say – had finally resonated with the boy?

In the end, he could only sigh, ‘Become a demon… Or don’t… The outcome will be the same…’

“Kneel.” Patriarch Ragnor’s hand exerted an extra and unavoidable pressure onto Dyon’s shoulder that brought him to his knees with ease.

The anger on Dyon’s features flashed. When had he ever kneeled to anyone?!

The land beneath Dyon’s knees shattered as he met the ground. He tightened his jaw in rebellion, even to the point of blood seeped through his teeth, but he could not fight a celestial expert, let alone one of such caliber.

In the next instant, Patriarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu also kneeled.

“Pathetic.” Dyon ground the words out from his mouth, forcefully taking advantage of Patriarch Ragnor’s hand leaving his shoulder. “Nothing but dogs.”

Although anger flashed through Patriarch Ragnor’s features due to Dyon’s words, he no longer dared to say to anything. Something was coming, and it was something even he wouldn’t dare to give an iota of disrespect toward.

In the center of the semi-spheres, a flickering light began to take shape. And if one truly paid attention, it would be clear that this was a person!

A black figure took form, sitting cross legged. There was no face, nor were there any distinctive features. Just like the hand in the distance, it was difficult to tell anything about it, other than what it was… This was a person, and that was a hand… That was it.

However, they shared yet another characteristic… And that was an unbridled and unfathomable pressure, one that was capable of forcing even Patrarch Ragnor not to look up.

Dyon felt Patriarch Ragnor’s energy try to subtly make him lower his head to the ground as he and Elder Daiyu had done. But, because Ragnor didn’t dare to use too much power, Dyon was able to grit his teeth as stare right at this forming entity. He anger was seething enough… If he was forced to lower his head to such an extent, he really might lose himself completely…

“Ah… How long has it been…” The voice sounded nothing like it should have.

It should have been worth breaking. It should have torn through the void and beheaded Dyon for his arrogance and disdain toward it. It should have made the world since or want to destroy its next note just like the array that contained it did…

And yet, it sounded like none of those things…

In fact, if one had to describe it, it would almost be like a young father, looking after his children. It was soft and tender, but also held an unavoidable manliness to it. But, there was no doubt hat this was the voice of an unmatched entity…

“Oh?” The shadow looked around itself, not sparing a glance toward the three that kneeled before him. “It seems on is missing. Such a shame…”

The nonchalance of his voice didn’t serve to ease Dyon’s anger. In fact, it did nothing but raise it to an entirely other level. This man did all of this, and yet seemed not to care about its success or failure at all! It was almost as though he could care less!

Patriarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu kept their heads mere centimeters from the ground. However, it was clear that the reaction of the voice didn’t put them at ease, if anything, the sweat on their brows increased with every passing second, until finally, Elder Daiyu broke.

“We apologize for your incompetence, one who transcends daos. However, we have brought the child you so audaciously stole what was yours.”

It wasn’t until that point that the shadow that seemed to be between worlds noticed that there were people around it. It was almost as though he couldn’t be bothered to notice before…

Its head carefully scanned the beings before it. However, contrary to thought, he spent just as much time caring about Dyon’s gaze of anger as he did acknowledging Patriarch Ragnor’s and Elder Daiyu’s bows – absolute none.

The figure paused, seemingly thinking over something. “Hardly matters.” The two words were simple, and without effort. One could tell that he truly didn’t care about the soul kernel at all… In fact, anyone listening got the impression that even if he lost all three, he would only return to his nap, not having a care for the world…

“But,” The entity spoke again, “It seems like this person is intent on dying. Simply extract the soul kernel from within him and put it in its rightful place.”

Dyon’s jaw clenched closed. “What gives you the right? I’ll kill you with my own hands!”

Patraiarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu’s eyes widened with shock. Patriarch Ragnor hadn’t even bothered to tether his energy to Dyon after forcing him to kneel and trying to force his head down, initially, because the pressure exuding from this entity was too much! In fact, even if Patriarch Ragnor tried to talk right now it would be nearly impossible, only Elder Daiyu should!

“Oh?” The entity seemed amused and unbothered. He had noticed the anger coming from Dyon, but he hadn’t cared. All emotions seemed quite useless to him, whether it was fear or anger, neither meant much. He hardly made the effort to tell the apart anymore.  

Having the attention of the entity trained onto him was completely different than having a casual sweep. Dyon felt as though he was completely naked and laid to lay bare before this man. It was a feeling of absolute helplessness, and yet Dyon could hardly care as he stared daggers at this unsurpassable mountain.

“How odd, you truly believe what you are saying. What a rare find, truly. Then again, it is impossible to lie before me.”

Dyon grit his teeth, trying to wiggle free of Patriarch Ragnor’s added suppression. He wanted nothing more than to lunge at this entity, to destroy its being. And yet he couldn’t even muster up enough energy to just move!

“Hm? A familiar scent lies on you. How interesting, my pet tried to kill you and you survived? Haha, what an interesting tale you have.” The voice continued to speak without a care in the world. It wasn’t pressed for time, in fact, it seemed to have no concept of it whatsoever.

However, his words only left Dyon in more and more confusion. He had no idea what ‘pet’ this man was talking about. That said, how could he?

When Dyon was in the Earth Gate, utilizing the Epistemic Tower Key’s ability to travel through the space pockets of the world, a massive being had threatened to kill him.

Dyon had no recollection of such events because he had never once felt its presence… Had it not been for his grand teacher, he would have died in body and spirit millions of times over. However, that massive entity was stopped at no small cost to his grand teacher.

“Faint. Faint.” The entity spoke in nonsensical half sentences, but it was clear he wasn’t mad. His mind just worked on a complete other level than what Dyon was accustomed to. “But, it’s there. To think he was the one who saved you, how interesting. You have quite the interesting past.

At this point, you should thank me. Your heart is a mere step from walking a path you don’t want to. If you die now, you’ll never have to become the monster you so irrationally fear… It’s a bit silly to fear a cultivation path, don’t you think? In the end, no matter what means you use, cultivation is still cultivation. What does it matter what methods you use?”

Patriarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu were shocked that the entity was willing to speak for so long, and to a mere boy at that. But, they didn’t dare to look up – simply waiting for him to finish.

“I would never need methods so despicable yet claim to be strong. I would rather die!”

“Ah. Interesting. Yet another truth told. However, your philosophies are a bit silly, and your life is a comedy all to its own.”

Dyon froze. There was only one person who could see through him like this… Only one ability in the world that could do what was necessary… The True Empath…

“You claim to love fiercely and loyally, except your heart holds images of a woman who isn’t one of your wives.

You claim to not want to lose yourself into demonic will, and yet you continuously use it to forcefully increase your cultivation, whether it be in that so-called World Tournament, or just moments before you arrive head.

You claim to build your dao of death on the promise of transcending it entirely, and yet you would rather die than concede a useless philosophy. How odd… What an interesting mind you have…”

Dyon felt like his everything was being laid to bare. Could his grand teacher really do this as well? Impossible, this man dug so deeply … Dyon somehow knew that this was something his grand teacher wouldn’t be able to do with such ease…

“Haha, how funny,” The entity laughed again, as though he was patting a child on the head. “Not only do you plan to get out of this alive, you also want to pursue the martial path to a level enough to revive all those lives you lost? To see your mother and father again and repay them for what they’ve done?”

Dyon’s brow furrowed as blood seeped from his clenched jaw.

“You’ve traveled so far in the martial world, yet know nothing about it. Something like reviving the dead is impossible, although I guess a powerful enough entity can find someone in the stream of reincarnation and speed up the process. You can then transfer the memories of their past life to them. At that point, they’ll be the exact same person they were previously, with no changes whatsoever. I worked on a theory like this as well in the distant past. It works well, you only have to form a high level dao of karma, life, death and reincarnation. Quite easy if you ask me, but it seems to be difficult for others.” The entity chuckled.

“The problem for you is that you’ll never get so far.”

Dyon’s eyes flashed. This was the first concrete answer he had gotten on the matter. All he needed to do was survive this, and there would be hope!

“I will survive this.” Dyon’s foot slammed into the ground as he tried to forcefully push himself upward.

The entity chuckled. “You misunderstand. Don’t you understand what the soul is?”

Dyon froze.

“It seems you get it now, how funny.” The entity chuckled. “The soul is what connects you to the world. It’s what allows you to exist. Energy cultivation might help deepen your comprehension, but it’s not true connection. It’s only a booster for this connection.

“Quite simply put, what allows people to reincarnate is their soul. But, because of your existence, the soul of everyone you’re hoping to revive has been wiped clean of whatever special law that made them themselves in order for them to be the soul of a single person – you.”

The laughter of the entity still remained light. There was nothing evil about it. It was as though he was talking about the weather and chuckling for small-talk.

“The souls of your parents are lost forever. There is no reincarnation for them.”

Dyon’s knee fell back to the ground.

When he had a hole through his chest, he persevered. When his home was completely destroyed, he persevered. When he learned that those he trusted might very well be the reason for his pain, he persevered…

But this, this was a final straw… A dam broke within Dyon. But, there was no eruption. There was no torrent of aura. There was no baleful scream of agony.

There was only the sound of tears dripping onto the lush grass beneath his knees.

Tears of blood.