2273 2273. Confidence

The old man used his energy to bring his halves back together, but Noah didn't hesitate to turn and wave his swords. A thin, horizontal slash came out of his weapons and pierced the violet aura to sever the privileged cultivator's chest from its lower part.

The privileged cultivator released even more energy in a desperate attempt to gain enough time to heal, but Noah was relentless. A slight tremor ran through his wrists, and slashes rained out of his swords to crash on his opponent.

The violet halo crumbled into a wave of bright shards as soon as black lines spread through its structure. The privileged cultivator saw his figure vanishing and leaving his world exposed, but that didn't stop him from releasing more energy.

Noah didn't let the surge of power scare him. The privileged cultivator was clearly struggling to defend against his attacks, and he didn't miss the chance to double down on his offensive.

Only a second had to pass before countless slashes took control of the privileged cultivator's surroundings. The ability created multiple layers of attacks ready to fall on the old man, but Noah didn't unleash them right away.

The privileged cultivator couldn't heal in that situation. His surroundings were under Noah's control, and destruction filled every inch of that area. Black lines expanded on their own even if Noah didn't send any energy to his offensive, and any trace of power that tried to touch those slashes crumbled before it could turn into an attack.

The old man felt trapped, but he didn't give up. His world was in the open, but no energy could leave its edges since the destruction in the area would instantly shatter it.

Fighting back was impossible, so the privileged cultivator employed the opposite approach. He made the energy inside his world spin to generate a pulling force that attracted part of the destruction in the area.

A cold smirk appeared on Noah's face when he understood the privileged cultivator's plan. It wasn't hard to predict what the expert had in mind after facing his previous attack. The old man wanted to use even more of Noah's energy to summon an offensive that he couldn't theoretically overcome.

Noah could interrupt that procedure by unleashing all the slashes hovering in the area, but he decided to wait. His initial plan was to end the battle with one last attack, and he wanted to stick with it. That new development would only force him to overcome the old man's technique.

Snore voiced an excited hiss from inside its dark world when it sensed Noah's intentions. The snake was beyond happy to know that Noah was resorting to its ability to deal with his opponent.

Noah closed his eyes and raised his swords as he focused on the energy contained inside the countless slashes. The power behind their destructive nature skyrocketed and forced them to collapse to create dense black waves.

Those waves resembled Snore's destructive energy, but they didn't abandon Noah's iconic sharpness. Moreover, growls and roars seemed to come out of their fabric whenever they clashed with each other. A spherical lake had appeared around the privileged cultivators, and the transformations had only begun.

<br/>The old man absorbed as much of Noah's destruction as possible, but the transformation of the lake made him interrupt the process. The scenery filled his mind with disbelief and helplessness.

The waves of energy churned and condensed until they gave birth to a thick array of sharp feathers that shared a stark resemblance with Snore's old wings. That shape and the power they carried revealed the nature of the imminent attack, which made the privileged cultivator experience true despair.

Knowledge was a powerful weapon, but it only destroyed the privileged cultivator's hopes in that situation. He had studied Noah's power long enough to know what was about to fall on him, and he knew that nothing in his world could oppose it.

Tremors ran through the feathers and made them release even louder roars. Their blackness intensified until any other trace of light disappeared from the area.

The privileged cultivator saw the purple shades inside his world vanishing now that Noah's attack had forbidden the existence of other colors. Everything in the area had to belong to his destruction, and the old man could only succumb to the order.

The feathers eventually reached the peak of their power and began to descend toward the exposed world. The privileged cultivator instinctively summoned a defensive technique, but his energy crumbled even before reaching the incoming attacks.

The first clash triggered a chain reaction that made all the feathers shoot forward to unleash their energy on their target. A storm unfolded, and Noah forced himself to remain still while flares of energy flew past him.

The pressure generated by the explosions was immense. It matched and even slightly surpassed Snore's peak power. Noah had adapted his companion's attack to his abilities, turning his slashes into a deadly storm that he struggled to endure.

The black energy raged for a few seconds until imploding at the center of the storm. The event generated a shockwave that expanded for more than half of the higher plane, but Noah still forced himself to remain still. He couldn't divert his eyes from his own destruction.

The black energy finally dispersed at that point. The void regained control of the area, and its space-time array stabilized. Noah couldn't find any trace of the old man, but his eyes remained in the now-empty spot.

Noah's expression remained firm, but his ethereal blackness raged with power as it generated more potential. He had become strong enough to kill solid stage cultivators in a few attacks. His world couldn't remain silent in front of that feat.

Power ran through the very core of Noah's existence. He could feel his world striving to reach the peak of the cultivation journey, but a single solid stage cultivator wasn't enough to fill the gap that separated him from the breakthrough.

Noah was close to the solid stage, extremely close. However, that short gap felt immensely deep. There was a chance that no number of average privileged cultivators could fill it.

'So, that's how it is,' Noah calmly concluded in his mind. 'I can't advance like this.'

Noah moved his attention to focus on a spot near the sky. He found a smiling face waiting for him there. Caesar seemed to know what was going through his mind, and he showed nothing but excitement at that sight.

'He knows that I need to kill one of them to advance,' Noah thought.

Noah's cultivation level had reached the point that he had always predicted and feared. Affecting the entirety of the higher plane and becoming able to defeat peak rank 9 experts couldn't bring him to the solid stage. He needed a bit more than that.

'Does he expect me to ignore the other privileged cultivators to focus on the leaders?' Noah wondered as his cold smirk widened. 'As if I cared.'

Noah roared and exploded with power. The new potential running through his ethereal blackness flowed toward the cage of roots and Snore's dark world to further enhance their attacks.

Caesar's smile also widened when he inspected the scene. He expressed complete confidence, and he diverted his gaze only to force Noah to follow it.

Noah glanced in the direction of Caesar's gaze only to find an exhausted Steven hovering above Decumia. His black figure featured countless holes, but his opponent's cultivation level had also fallen a bit. Yet, he couldn't keep fighting anymore. His battle was over.