Reaper of the Martial World - Book 13: Chapter 1: Begun
Dyon could hardly react before a tongue sent him flying across the room. It had such speed behind its movements that had Dyon not been aware of Little Gold’s habits, he wouldn’t have even been aware of exactly what just happened.
Little Gold’s innocent eyes blinked as she watched Dyon crash into the wall. Then, she panicked when Dyon’s clone died.
Nazaire watched on, speechless. If others knew that the mighty Nameless Immortal God died because his pet was excited to see him, just how would all those who had suffered at his hands feel?
Little Gold’s eyes were truly too beautiful. They were a sparkling blue that contained flickers of violet and gold. And, maybe somewhat ironically, the way they teared up when she believed that she had killed Dyon only made them more beautiful.
Her body trembled as though she was about to lose control of her emotions. She had just seen Dyon for the first time after so long and now she had killed him?
Just when she really couldn’t take it any longer, Saru and Lilith stepped forward to comfort her.
“It’s okay, Little Gold. It was just a clone, just a clone.” Saru said softly.
It was easy to tell that she was trying her best not to burst out in laughter. Dyon had already been half dead after concocting those pills. Taking a blow like that from a creature with strength beyond the Peak Immortal God Realm was definitely too much for him to handle. It could only be expected that he would suffer so much.
Lilith, however, couldn’t hold back at all and was all but rolling on the ground. If she hadn’t awakened her memories, maybe she really would have gone so far. She liked to believe that she was more mature now.
At that moment, a faint light came from Dyon’s dead, withering clone and formed a new flower he stepped out from. If he was embarrassed, it was nearly impossible to tell from his face.
Dyon simply smiled. “Little Gold, I’m much weaker than I was in the past. You won’t leave me behind because I’m useless, will you?”
Little Gold furiously shook her head, reaching out toward Dyon with her tongue again. This time, she was so slow that it was almost painful to watch.
However, Little Gold was incomparably excited by this. Going slowly? She had never been allowed to do so in her life. No matter how hard she tried, she had been cursed by the Heavens to move so quickly that no one could see her.
The only person, back then, who had been strong enough to see her and stay by her side was Dyon. Even Dyon’s own wives only faintly had a connection with her thanks to him. But now… she could actually move slowly?
As though a little kid who had found a new toy, Little Gold slowed her tongue down even more, her large, beautiful eyes crossing as she observed it with rapt attention. Looking at her adorable appearance, one would never guess that she was an old monster who had lived for hundreds of billions of years.
Dyon laughed heartily. Even Nazaire couldn’t help but smile.
“This is my present to you Little Gold. You’ll be slower than you’ve been in the past, but those damned Heavens won’t be able to force you to continue flying endlessly like it did before.”
QIII QIII
Little Gold’s sonorous call filled the mountain range once more. Seeing how happy she was, Dyon didn’t feel the slightest bit of regret toward the sacrifice of the Eternal Tomb. It was no longer very useful to him anyway. Even he had to admit that the blood sprite was much more useful to him in this regard.
“Your body is still a bit weak now, so I’ve prepared something for you.” Dyon said, directly handing over the ten beautiful pills that he had refined without a shred of hesitation.
He tossed them into the air and Little Gold gulped them down happily.
“Master… You said that those pills weren’t 99% pure. Then… what exactly are they?”
Nazaire tried to hide the pain in his heart by asking this question. Wasn’t giving over 10 Peak God Grade pills at once too much? Even a Peak Immortal God would explode doing such a thing, not to mention the fact that this pill was one that faintly surpassed this realm into something unknown.
“They’re 100% pure pills.” Dyon said nonchalantly as Little Gold’s momentum began to grow.
“… What?”
“You should probably be getting ready right about now.” Dyon said, not answering the question.
“Getting ready? Getting ready for what?”
“Nothing much. It’s just that your Pill Stick Pebble sect will probably be in a state of civil war soon.”
“Oh – wait what?!”
QIIIII QIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Little Gold spread her wings, causing an overwhelming pressure to burst forth.
“Mm.” Dyon nodded. “You’ve reached the Peak Immortal God Realm, but the matters you know about the Immortal Plane are still too limited. You’ve been the sect master for so long, and even spent so long hiding your true strength, yet you didn’t take advantage of the time you had to clear out the lingering problems of the sect. Instead, things became worse because of your actions instead. Don’t you think you’re a little too foolish to be my disciple?”
Nazaire blushed with shame. He wasn’t sure what his master was talking about, but Dyon wasn’t one to speak nonsense. If what he said was true, he really had missed a good opportunity. On top of that, that opportunity had been squandered because during his duel with Dyon, he had already revealed his true strength.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Peak Mountain began to shake violently beneath Little Gold’s aura. It seemed that just with her strength alone, an ancient mountain that had stood for countless years would fall to dust.
“You need to think for yourself, Little Nazaire. On the Immortal Plane, the Peak Immortal God Realm is just the beginning.”
“What?! Are there realms beyond?”
“No.” Dyon said casually. “The Peak Immortal God Realm is the highest cultivation realm that a person can touch. This isn’t just the case for the Immortal Plane, but for every Planar World at our level. However… What does a group of people do when they reach the pinnacle of the world? Do you think that they just sit silently and accept it, folding their arms and calling it a life well lived?”
Nazaire furiously shook his head. He had reached the pinnacle long ago, but wasn’t he still trying to find methods to improve?
It was just like the hidden underwater city of the Ancient Battlefield. They had met a bottleneck they felt was the peak of the world, so what had they done? They evolved in the same direction as the mortal world of Dyon’s 109th life, becoming a city of technology.
If mortals could do such a thing, then what about Immortals?
Obviously, if one looked around the Immortal Plane, there obviously weren’t big machines and screens everywhere. But, logically speaking, the Immortal Plane had had experts of the Peak Immortal God Realm for a long time. So… What had they been doing the whole time?
“Some people felt there might be answers in other planar worlds, some felt there might be some secrets hidden within the void, some felt that they only had to meditate upon themselves and they would eventually find a path forward. There were countless ideas over just as many years and there’ve been no shortage of overly ambitious individuals.
“There was one in particular that always caught my attention. When I grew powerful enough, I seemed to find signs of them everywhere. When I grew even more powerful, I found that their roots were too deep for me to fathom. When I became strong enough to look down on all of existence, I learned that they had gotten there before me.
“On the mortal plane, they’re brazen, stationing themselves everywhere under the guise of the greater good. On the Immortal Plane, they were more measured and reserved, but this only made their hidden blade all the more frightening.
“What these people believe is quite simple, but profound. The world began with Chaos. From Chaos, Order was birthed. From Order, Chaos is being birthed once more. The logical conclusion of existence is to return to that state of Chaos. That’s their one and only goal. To seek a breakthrough once the world reaches the extreme of Chaos once more… So that they might find Order once again.
“They call themselves the Sapientia. And it seems that they’ve gotten a bit impatient with waiting and biding their time. Or, you could say that I’ve forced their hand a bit…”
A cold smile spread from Dyon’s lips.
At that moment, Immortal God Crane sprinted into the mountain pass. His fat belly bounded, but his speed was inconceivable.
Beads of sweat and blood fell from his face, a look of fear gripping his expression.
“Sect Master! Sect Master! We’re under attack!”
Dyon sent a casual glance toward Crane. “Kill him.”
The words that came from his master stunned Nazaire, but Little Gold had already acted.
And so, it had begun.