2228 2228. Gardener

Noah closed his eyes as injuries opened everywhere on his body. His skin shattered, the muscles under it broke, and the layer of dark matter protecting his vital organs suffered from a similar fate.

The red-haired cultivator's attack was nowhere near weak. It didn't fully express the power of all the worlds in his existence, but it came really close to that.

Noah couldn't defend against that offensive even if he had the best body in the entire higher plane. The unstable substance brought his physical prowess to incredible heights, but his opponent remained one of the greatest experts from the sky.

Of course, Noah could muster his potential and summon defensive abilities to take care of the attack. He could use Duanlong, Shafu, or even the parasite to reduce the amount of power crashing on his figure. Yet, he held everything back and let his body handle that massive blow.

Merely thinking about saving potential in a fight against a privileged cultivator was reckless. Noah would have been fine against average experts, but the final battle only featured the best assets from the sky.

Still, Noah had one chance to save some energy. The tactic would inevitably lead to severe injuries and a lot of pain, but Noah had never been scared of those. He could let his superior body suffer instead of defending against incoming attacks.

Noah could feel his innate defenses losing ground. His body was strong, insanely strong, but his opponent probably was one of its best counters since he could summon far superior amounts of power.

No levels of physical prowess could match that violent wave of energy that carried different natures. It was simply impossible to face it without relying on defensive techniques. However, Noah didn't care.

Everything was fine as long as Noah survived. He didn't mind if his figure turned into a gory mess. He would face every attack as long as he believed he could survive them.

The wave of energy ravaged Noah's figure before dispersing once it exhausted its power. Noah became visible again, but his appearance had drastically changed. Almost all the skin and muscles on his front had disappeared, exposing his though skeleton, which featured multiple fuming spots.

Blood almost disappeared from Noah's body due to the width of the injuries, and the ethereal blackness instinctively tried to send potential to the healing process. Yet, Noah forced his world to save energy as he let his dark matter apply a patch on those wounds.

"You are crazier than I thought," The red-haired cultivator commented after inspecting Noah's state. "You won't survive to see Heaven and Earth joining the battlefield."

"You cultivators always talk so much," Noah coughed as the dark matter replaced most of the missing flesh. "Did living in the sky make you lonely?"

"I see," The red-haired cultivator sighed as he pointed an arm at Noah. "You must have lost your mind in the last exchange."

<br/>The dark matter soon transformed into fiendish armor, and Noah made it show a devilish smirk. The red-haired cultivator snorted since Noah didn't give any answer, and a new wave of energy shot out of his hand.

The privileged cultivator didn't take his time to assimilate all his worlds at that time, but the scarlet domain still improved his offensive. The multicolored wave of energy gained red glows as it flew toward Noah, but it remained inferior to the previous attack in terms of harmony.

An odd growl left Noah's maimed mouth before he spat a cloud of black flames that carried the peak of his destruction. The attack didn't use any potential, but it was enough to divide the different natures unleashed by the privileged cultivator.

The flames burnt part of the expert's attack before sending its energy toward Noah. Part of his injuries disappeared, but his condition remained severe. Yet, he didn't lose power at all.

"How long can you keep that up?" The privileged cultivator laughed. "You won't-!"

"You always say stuff like that," Noah interrupted. "You won't succeed. You won't win. You can't defeat the sky. You always have something to say. I've already hurt your pride. Just accept it."

"What nonsense are you even talking about?" The red-haired cultivator asked.

Noah raised his clawed arm to point a sharp finger at his opponent. The privileged cultivator summoned his barriers to prepare for the imminent offensive, but Noah only sent words. "I've turned Heaven and Earth's world against them. I've created this final battle when Heaven and Earth wanted to hide this power from me. I've already proven that no one is my equal."

The privileged cultivator fell silent. He wanted to deny Noah's words, but he had to admit that they made sense. Sure, Noah's organization had multiple experts who could have achieved similar results, but only he could unite so many forces and create a proper challenge for Heaven and Earth.

"You are correct," The privileged cultivator admitted, "But this doesn't make your statement less arrogant."

The privileged cultivator mustered his power to prepare another attack, but his energy dispersed before it could condense in his hand. The event startled him, but a disregarding smile soon appeared on his face.

"That creature of yours sure is sneaky," The red-haired cultivator commented as he inspected his surroundings to search for Night. "It hurt me without leaving any trace. You must have used all your power to make it so strong."

Noah didn't answer. The fiendish armor continued to show a devilish smirk as he stepped forward to walk toward his opponent.

"Such arrogance," The red-haired cultivator sighed. "Did you forget that I can heal myself?"

White energy seeped out of the expert's body while power gathered in his hand. He seemed able to prepare his technique now, but a tremor suddenly ran through his body and made him disperse all the accumulated fuel.

The privileged cultivator wore a shocked expression. He didn't understand what was happening, but Noah was drawing close, so he activated his healing technique again. However, another tremor ran through his body and forced him to disperse that energy.

"What is happening?" The red-haired cultivator cursed. "What have you done to me?"

Noah eventually reached his opponent. The latter tried to wave his arm to send Noah away, but his limb shattered when it touched the fiendish armor.

Something surprising became visible when the arm shattered. The privileged cultivator saw how black roots had replaced his bones. The parasite had appeared inside him, and its body stretched deep into his flesh.

"What have you done?!" The privileged cultivator shouted.

"Why don't you use your immense knowledge?" Noah mocked as he closed his clawed hand on his opponent's head and started to envelop him with dark matter.

The privileged cultivator didn't know what to do. He tried to summon his energy, but nothing came out. Meanwhile, the dark matter began to express Noah's devouring ability, which consumed his skin and the worlds contained in his existence.

"Did you find an answer?" Noah joked as he continued to devour his opponent. "I've turned Night into a gardener."

A snort resounded behind Noah as Night became visible. The Pterodactyl's appearance had changed. Black flowers had grown from its odd body, but it didn't hesitate to sever them away.

The privileged cultivator didn't understand what had happened even after witnessing that scene. Yet, answers came once the dark matter devoured his whole figure and exposed his worlds. The expert managed to see black seeds inside his existence before his consciousness went dark.