The deep understanding that the short experience had brought to Noah's mind almost made him forget the dangerousness of the situation. The old rulers had teleported him outside the sky right after causing a major mess. That wasn't the time to ponder about his gains. He had to leave the area and make Heaven and Earth lose track of him.

"Shall we split here?" The old rulers asked. "We can give you a ride toward deeper areas of the higher plane, but Heaven and Earth can find us easily. We'll very likely end up facing a series of Tribulations in the next years."

"It's fine," Noah refused. "This has been a good distraction. I'd rather be alone for now."

"Then, was it worth it?" The old rulers questioned as a crack opened on their orange figure to create what seemed a smug smirk.

"It was definitely something," Noah admitted. "The universe looks immense, and there might be more past it."

"No wonder they call you Defying Demon," The old rulers chuckled. "Even a glimpse of the universe can't put a stop to your ambition."

"My journey is endless," Noah announced before turning and watching the space-time array replacing the white environment in his vision.

"As every journey should be," The old rulers exclaimed before Noah's figure disappeared from the area. Their orange body glanced at the crack created by his movement technique before inspecting the sky until they ultimately returned inside the orange city.

Rumbling thoughts filled Noah's mind as he walked among the space-time array. He couldn't stop reviewing what he had experienced during that short inspection of the realms past the ninth rank.

His techniques felt barbaric after witnessing what forms of energy lay ahead. Noah was exploiting the very nature of the higher plane for his benefit, but that was a mere trick compared to what beings past the ninth rank could achieve.

Existences capable of affecting space and time would directly morph part of the universe according to their understanding. That effect wouldn't be part of a technique or similar effects. It would be a normal consequence of their sheer power.

Noah could sense that his world wasn't part of any larger system. He had long since escaped Heaven and Earth's control, and the higher plane was under their control, so he could never experience what it was to modify something without affecting someone else's power.

That wasn't even close to what Noah had witnessed during the mission. His world was a solitary force moving among enemy territory. Instead, the deeper forms of energy among the void were part of the universe's system, and their sole existence shaped the environment depending on their meanings.

Noah didn't like that path because it seemed to throw away the uniqueness developed throughout countless years. He didn't want to become part of a system, but his unwillingness didn't make him unable to admire the positive aspects of the scene.

The deeper forms of energy didn't appear constrained or anything similar. They weren't like the cultivators inside Heaven and Earth's system. They were part of the universe but also free to express themselves and reshape the environment.

Moreover, those forms of energy probably didn't reflect the realm that cultivators would achieve at that level. Noah believed that another path existed for beings like him. Still, that different journey had to share similarities with what he had witnessed, so he naturally started to think about the issue.

His world affected his surroundings, but the process was a transformation rather than a natural consequence to his existence. He was strong enough to force the matter around him to benefit from his ambition, but those effects were forceful. The universe didn't react to him. He was only a lonely world roaming among a plane that belonged to an even stronger being.

Noah didn't know how to improve from that point. Sure, expanding his existence and throwing quasi-living workshops around would make him progress across the ninth rank, but the path beyond that realm wanted something else.

Noah wasn't sure that he could achieve similar effects immediately. He was strong, but Caesar had proven how his world still lacked depth. There was a chance that he would be able to understand how to affect the universe once he reached higher stages of the cultivation journey, but it didn't hurt to try to be ahead of his schedule.

The long sprint full of various ideas and vague plans ended when Noah sensed a foreign presence in the space-time array that filled his vision. He abruptly stopped, and his blades appeared in his hands when he recognized the aura that had appeared in the area.

"You never give up," Noah joked as a white figure slowly came out of the weak sky in the distance.

"My perfect self couldn't let you escape again," Dinia announced. "Let's end this today."

Noah inspected his surroundings as his consciousness expanded. He couldn't sense anyone else in the area, which left him quite surprised. Dinia could probably guess how strong he had become, so it made no sense for him to jump into a battle on his own.

"Don't worry too much," Dinia announced. "This isn't for Heaven and Earth or any other plan. I can't let you escape me again."

"Don't tell me that you need to kill me to reach the solid stage," Noah sneered. "You sure have a troublesome world."

"We can't change who we are," Dinia declared as white runes appeared on his body and started to draw power from the whiteness around him, "Especially at our level. You have endangered my perfect self, so I must defeat you."

Noah couldn't argue with that. He could actually understand what Dinia was experiencing due to his knowledge of the cultivator's world. Words had suddenly become pointless, and bloodlust inevitably started flowing out of his figure.

"Yes, good," Dinia exclaimed. "Go all-out from the very beginning. Let's avoid wasting time in pointless inspections of each other's power."

Noah didn't let Dinia repeat himself. His potential flooded his centers of power as the unstable substance reinforced his body. Intense ambition flowed out of his figure as his companions started to appear around him. He was going all-out just as Dinia asked.

"Are you going to make me wait?" Noah asked since Dinia didn't activate any new technique.

"My perfect self is already above you," Dinia stated as a copy of the cultivator materialized above Noah and tried to deliver a descending punch.

"I know," Noah sighed as a wave of bloodlust came out of him and released a dark-purple substance in the area. The parasite didn't hesitate to follow that event with its seeds. Many branches appeared between Noah and the cultivator, and the sky immediately began to waver.

"We have always known that your arrival in the ninth rank would have caused problems," Dinia explained as more copies of him came out of his figure. "Don't worry. I've come prepared."

Dinia multiplied itself, but Noah didn't falter. He knew that most of those copies would disappear as soon as they suffered a significant defeat, so he could only see them as puppets.

'I can match this power,' Noah thought as the dark world expanded and workshops started to generate an equally stronger army.. He could deal with those copies even if they touched the upper tier in terms of power.

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