Chapter 2362: After Story 1. Departure

Chapter 2362: After Story 1. Departure

An immense and uneven white landmass shone in the darkness of the void. Golden lights flickered on its surface from time to time, but they quickly disappeared to fuse with its insides.

Countless living beings thrived on the landmass’ many environments. The rich and powerful white ground had given birth to enough resources to feed entire Higher Planes, and the creatures on it didn’t hold back from devouring anything in their range.

A few organizations had obviously formed, but none dared to claim any relevance on that immense land. They simply didn’t have the power to do so, and the incredible experts at work in the void around the landmass always reminded them of their place.

“This quadrant is finally done,” Great Builder sighed. “Everything should be stable now.”

“I’ll check one more time,” King Elbas stated. “You never know what that idiot did during its raids.”

“My goals stretch beyond your poor understanding,” The Foolery proudly squealed. “You’ll never figure them out.”

“You just ate some inscriptions,” Cursed Reality pointed out.

“No,” The Foolery smirked while lifting its head. “I ate a lot of inscriptions.”

“Elbas, it’s breaking free,” Great Builder warned.

“I know,” King Elbas snorted. “The new cage is ready.”

A golden flare came out of King Elbas’ back, and a bright cage slowly became visible among the flames. The item remained in the void for less than a second before teleporting to the Foolery’s location.

The Foolery kept its head lifted while new fiery pillars fused with the old ones. The almost depleted quasi-rank 10 flames flickered with power and sent their scorching influence in the gaps among them to create a perfect cage that didn’t leave any way out.

“You have improved since your last attempt to stop me,” The Foolery praised, “But this is far from enough.”

The Foolery lowered its head and unleashed its aura, but the process ended when the flames’ scent reached its nostrils. The pig’s nose shook while it sniffed the new cage, and saliva began to drool out of its mouth.

“Tasty,” The Foolery exclaimed as a sucking force came out of its body and began to absorb the flames. The cage immediately dimmed, but its pillars contained enough energy to endure the pig’s technique for a few seconds.

“It won’t be enough,” Great Builder commented.

“Don’t underestimate me,” King Elbas snorted again before snapping his fingers.

A golden portal suddenly appeared inside the cage, and Pellio came out of it. The cultivator was on his vast mat, and multiple cups full of tea had already filled it. Their scent was so tempting that the Foolery couldn’t help but stop absorbing the flames to reach its companion.

Great Builder nodded at that sight, and his attention returned to the landmass. The job was almost done. It only needed King Elbas’ approval.

The landmass had changed a lot since Noah’s departure. King Elbas, Cursed Reality, and Great Builder had worked relentlessly to reinforce and stabilize the mess of boulders left behind by Heaven and Earth. The task wasn’t exactly challenging, but the three experts had a troublesome and hungry enemy on the opposite side.

The Foolery had rarely missed the chance to get in the three experts’ way. It had never hurt the landmass, but its raids had always removed valuable energy from the arrays of inscriptions, delaying the completion of the task.

“That’s akin to admitting defeat,” Supreme Thief voiced while emptying the cup in his hand.

“I would have finished millennia ago,” Divine Demon shouted while waving a hand to refill Supreme Thief s cup and his own.

“The old landmass had a better shape,” Sword Saint commented while showing his empty cup to Divine Demon to make him refill it.

“Don’t,” King Elbas ordered when he noticed that Great Builder was about to reply to the taunts. “Let’s end this and get on our way.”

Great Builder eyed Supreme Thief, Sword Saint, and Divine Demon before bringing his focus back on the landmass. Those three experts had done nothing but drinking and throwing taunts during the task, but things had finally reached their final phase.

King Elbas didn’t wait for Great Builder to be ready. He stretched his arm toward the landmass and released a small flame that descended toward that white spectacle.

The flame never reached the landmass. A faint barrier appeared before it could get too far and absorbed it inside its fabric.

The absorption triggered a chain reaction that forced all the inscriptions involved in the barrier to light up. Countless golden flashes shone on the landmass and the void past it to create a blinding array. An immense amount of energy even flowed inside it to highlight its various cores.

King Elbas, Cursed Reality, and Great Builder followed the entire process closely. They even teleported near specific cores whenever the power of the inscriptions tried to hinder their mental waves. The array was a work of art powerful enough to fend off even a team of peak rank 9 beings, but that wasn’t its main purpose.

The array seemed alive. It resembled a parasitic monster fused with the landmass, but it didn’t draw any energy from it. Instead, it generated power and managed to send most of it to the white Higher Plane without halting its defensive functions.

‘You have surpassed yourself,” Cursed Reality praised.

“Are you insulting me?” King Elbas wondered. “This is beneath me. I would have created a proper masterpiece if I didn’t have to mind all the weaklings living on it.”

“I wasn’t,” Cursed Reality tried to explain himself, but a figure promptly materialized at his side and placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

“He is too used to getting teased,” Alexander reassured Cursed Reality before glancing at the void past the landmass, “And I’m sure his patience has long since run out.”

“I can’t blame him,” Cursed Reality admitted while also glancing at the void. “We have all been ready to leave for a while.”

Everyone heard Cursed Reality’s comment, and silence inevitably spread. The experts weren’t in a single location, but they all began to look at the void. The universe was within their reach, and it wouldn’t be long before they could dive into it. 𝑖𝘦𝑎.𝗇t

“We would have left already if someone wasn’t so slow,” Supreme Thief broke the silence with a complaint.

“I’m ashamed to be his master,” Divine Demon shook his head.

“Alexander, stop wasting my time,” King Elbas called while ignoring the jokes. “You wanted to test it out too, am I right?”

“We must be sure before abandoning Defying Demon’s legacy,” Alexander stated while stretching his arm toward the landmass and summoning a series of innate abilities.

A sea of grey flames that carried raging lightning bolts in its insides shot forward and enveloped the landmass in its violent might. The attack surpassed the peak of the ninth rank and put the white plane against something it couldn’t hope to defeat. Yet, the barrier held strong and protected anything in its insides.

“Ignorant maniacs,” King Elbas mocked. “Even my worst masterpiece is beyond your reach.”

“You do realize we built this together, right?” Great Builder pointed out.

“Xavier always likes to brag,” The Foolery said from the top of King Elbas’ shoulders. “He isn’t as humble as me.”

“When did it get there?” Cursed Reality whispered while looking for the fiery cage. Strangely enough, that blinding item had disappeared, leaving only Pellio and his mat behind.

“A mere cage can’t contain a demon!” Divine Demon laughed while teleporting next to King Elbas.

“Cage?” The Foolery tilted its head in confusion. “What cage?” .

King Elbas crossed his arms and ignored the jokes, but flames came out of his head and engulfed the Foolery. The pig’s skin burnt and let out smoke, but it didn’t move from its spot.Alexander chuckled, but a scarlet radiance suddenly shot out of his right palm, forcing him to take a few steps back. The scene attracted the group’s attention, and King Elbas even stopped burning the pig to deploy scanners.

A dark-red pebble left Alexander’s palm and floated into the void for a few seconds before exploding. A scarlet domain unfolded and sent rays of light in every direction, but everything soon condensed into a humanoid shape.

A peak rank 9 aura expanded in the area once a woman replaced the scarlet radiance. The expert had flickering red hair tied into a ponytail, and her eyes shone with the color of raging flames. Still, her expression mostly revealed surprise at the sight of Alexander and the void.

“You really did it,” Ulpia gasped as she inspected her surroundings. “You defeated Heaven and Earth.”

“The universe is our next destination,” Alexander explained. ‘You are free to explore it by yourself if you wish.”

Ulpia glanced at the boundless void before experiencing some cozy discomfort. She looked at her hands and closed them into fists, but that sensation didn’t disappear. Her world still existed, but it was inside a body she didn’t recognize.

The discomfort was annoying, but Ulpia couldn’t deny the power carried by her new body. The desire to develop martial arts quickly took over any negative emotion, but even that vanished when she focused on Alexander.

“Will you stay true to your promise?” Ulpia asked.

“Of course,” Alexander exclaimed. “I remember it as a good deal.”

“You might not be so bad,” Ulpia scoffed, “But I won’t be easy to get.”

Alexander smirked, and Ulpia imitated him. The two reached a silent understanding, but the many curious gazes fixed on them eventually made Ulpia change the topic.

“Are they always like this?” Ulpia wondered.

‘You know they are far worse,” Alexander laughed.

“Alright!” King Elbas shouted before anyone could make another joke. “Where is the last idiot?”

A white light materialized before King Elbas, and Daniel came out of it. His arrival marked a significant change in the situation, and everyone didn’t hesitate to gather around him.

‘Your hand,” King Elbas ordered, and Daniel promptly stretched his arm. A golden spot quickly formed at the center of his palm, and understanding even flowed inside him.

“You have full control of the inscriptions now,” King Elbas declared. “Do whatever you want with it.”

“I’ll lead the landmass into a bright future,” Daniel promised.

“I don’t care,” King Elbas snorted.

“You should eat it!” The Foolery suggested.

“You are lucky I don’t want to steal it,” Supreme Thief added.

‘You should turn it into a sword,” Sword Saint suggested.

The casual answers left Daniel surprised, but he recovered quickly. After all, that wasn’t his first time dealing with Noah’s core team. Some serious replies even followed once the others had the time to joke around.

“This plane carries Defying Demon’s legacy,” Alexander declared. “Don’t ruin it.”

“If you and those two weaklings don’t reach the tenth rank,” Divine Demon threatened, “I’ll destroy any trace of this Higher Plane.”

The threat and declarations sounded serious, but Daniel didn’t let them scare him. He nodded, knowing the full value of what those experts were leaving behind.

“Finally!” King Elbas shouted as he teleported away to reappear at some distance from the landmass. “I won’t miss you.”

“The time has come,” Divine Demon announced.

“Do you need a guide toward the paths?” Sword Saint suggested.

“It would be boring to drink alone,” Divine Demon laughed, and the two began to fly away, but a third figure materialized next to them before they could get too far.

“Can you take me with you?” Marcella asked without hiding the hesitation in her tone.

Sword Saint looked at Marcella for only a second before losing interest. He didn’t care about her. He only wanted to fly toward the sword path.

As for Divine Demon, he inspected Marcella a bit longer before asking a strange question in his most serious tone. “Do you drink?”

“I,” Marcella muttered in confusion, “I do.”

“Good,” Divine Demon exclaimed before creating a cup full of wine in front of Marcella and turning. His gesture was unclear, but Marcella still followed after him.

“We’ll also be on our way,” Alexander announced while the group still inspected the departing trio. Ulpia performed a polite bow toward the remaining experts before flying away with Alexander.

“Let’s find something less boring,” Supreme Thief ordered as he headed toward the void.

“Why are you so sure that I’ll follow you?” Great Builder asked while flying alongside Supreme Thief.

‘You are already doing that,” Supreme Thief pointed out.

‘You are following me,” Great Builder stated.

“Maybe you should remain on the landmass,” Supreme Thief commented. “Your mental waves are completely off.”

“Someone has to keep you in check,” Great Builder sneered. “Besides, I need you to steal a bunch of things for me.”

Cursed Reality and Daniel witnessed the slow departure of the experts in silence. No one was in a hurry to leave the landmass’ range. It almost seemed that the core team wanted to delay the inevitable end of their journey together.

“They’ll find each other soon enough,” Cursed Reality stated. “I’m sure of that.”

“You don’t have to stay here,” Daniel voiced. “The landmass is well-protected.”

“I won’t stay for long,” Cursed Reality explained, “But I’m not in a hurry either. Emperor and Queen have left long ago too, so I can use this chance to focus on the path ahead.”

Daniel limited himself to nodding. He also had a lot of work to do. His cultivation level was one of his priorities, but he had big plans for the landmass too.

King Elbas felt on the verge of tears when he watched the core team splitting up. He felt proud of what his organization had accomplished, but he couldn’t wait to get some silence. His long-awaited solitary journey was about to begin.

King Elbas let the other teams get farther away before turning to face the void. His curiosity almost exploded in front of that infinite blackness. The sole idea of the unknown made him restless, but all of that ended when something landed on his head.

“No,” King Elbas scolded, but a tongue licked his head anyway.

“So, where are we going?” The Foolery asked while continuing to lick King Elbas’ head.

“Don’t even think about it,” King Elbas declared, but a second figure materialized next to him.

“I made some tea,” Pellio stated while his mat hovered beside the Foolery.

“I will burn all of you,” King Elbas threatened, but a third presence arrived.

“I hope you’ll treat me well,” Sepunia teased while taking her place at King Elbas’ left side.

“What are you doing here?” King Elbas asked, but a fourth figure teleported in front of him.

“You don’t mind if I join, do you?” Decumia questioned through her broad smile.

“I,” King Elbas tried to say, but a sense of defeat invaded his mind. Somehow, part of him had already accepted that his journey through the universe would be far from solitary.

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