2338.Callings

The crack was nothing significant. It was slightly more than a dent in an otherwise perfectly intact and powerful body. Yet, everyone knew what that event meant.

Heaven and Earth glanced at their surroundings before lowering their face to inspect their chest. The pillars were still in their place, but their white light couldn't spread through the void. Also, their impenetrable body had finally suffered some damage.

The rulers raised their head to look in the distance at that point. Their eyes appeared unable to pierce through the darkness that had enveloped the higher plane, but a figure eventually flew past that clouding membrane.

Noah reappeared in the open. His body didn't show the slightest injury, and the sheer pressure radiated by his presence twisted the void. He seemed too heavy for that space-time array, and his every gesture left marks that the universe took a few seconds to remove.

Noah didn't look at Heaven and Earth. His reptilian eyes wandered through the void and flickered whenever he noticed something new or odd. He appeared in a daze but not confused, and the rulers' presence wasn't enough to bring his attention back to the higher plane.

"I feel the universe," Noah whispered, and his voice generated soft soundwaves that shot in every direction.

Roars and growls echoed from the soundwave. Screeching noises mixed with them and expressed all the aspects contained in Noah's world. His voice didn't carry any actual power, but it was strong enough to survive the travel through the higher plane.

Noah was partially oblivious to the event. He noticed the strange properties of his voice, but he didn't care about them. His eyes and senses as a whole were uncovering something so interesting that it almost made him forget about Heaven and Earth.

Different callings reached Noah's senses and invaded his mind. He could almost hear voices hidden in the invisible and formless fabric of the universe. The void carried forces that echoed grand meanings, and some of them resonated with Noah's world.

Little by little, Noah became able to differentiate between the different callings. They were mere echoes of stronger structures, but he could still find their natures. Destruction, creation, anger, pride, and far more came out of his figure in an attempt to touch those similar meanings and discover their secrets.

The aspects of Noah's world established a faint connection with the universe and revealed multiple paths hidden far away from his position. It was hard to discern between distance and depth, but Noah didn't care about those details now. He only wanted to admire the existence of a superior cultivation journey.

'The universe has paths for my aspects,' Noah thought as he bathed in the multiple meanings that had invaded his mind. 'I can pick one of them right away.'

The callings slowly transformed into promises. Noah felt tempted to join one of those vaster and deeper paths while he listened to the echoes resounding through the void.

A smile appeared on Noah's face, and June recognized the feeling hidden behind that gesture. Noah was truly happy, but his expression hid coldness that she knew far too well.

'None of you is me,' Noah thought. 'None of you can give me the power I seek.'

A tremor ran through the void around Noah, and his companions struggled to study that reaction. It seemed that Noah's surroundings had grown denser even without adding fabric to those areas.

Only Heaven and Earth had an idea of what was happening, but their expression didn't reveal anything. The rulers simply waited for their opponent to make his choice.

'No,' Noah thought. 'I don't want anything from you. I'll take what I need once the moment comes.'

The callings in Noah's senses transformed into screams that expressed pure rejection. The universe sounded unhappy and abruptly halted its connection with Noah. The interruption resembled a loud explosion that only he could hear, but the event didn't cause any damage.

"Funny," Noah chuckled as his gaze remained on the void. "It seems I'll be busy as soon as I get out of here."

"Don't overestimate yourself," Heaven and Earth responded. "The universe eventually calls everyone."

"You," Noah voiced as his attention finally went to Heaven and Earth. "It's time to stop playing around."

"You are overestimating yourself," Heaven and Earth announced as they stretched an arm forward. "We have long since been ready for your breakthrough."

The pillars sent the entirety of their energy toward Heaven and Earth, and the latter made it flow through their arm. Their hand shone and began to fend off the darkness, but their attack didn't shoot forward. Instead, it flew above their head to crash on a random area of the sky.

Gasps resounded in the area, but Heaven and Earth suppressed any form of surprise when they inspected the scene. Their arm wasn't in its original position. Someone had lifted it to make their attack miss.

Noah inspected the crystals seized in his grasp. He had only needed a sliver of potential to overcome Heaven and Earth's physical prowess and lift their arm. Still, that limb felt too firm even for him. He needed his blades to damage it.

Heaven and Earth put strength into their arm, but the effort didn't free them from Noah's grasp. He was far stronger than they had expected.

"We were right," Heaven and Earth exclaimed. "You are the perfect stepping stone."

"Get serious already," Noah ordered.

"We don't take orders from-," Heaven and Earth said, but an immense force suddenly crashed on their chest and flung them in the distance.

The attack had been too fast. King Elbas and the others had struggled to follow Noah's gesture. They actually didn't know whether he had moved at all or not.

Heaven and Earth found themselves lying on the sky. Their figure was mostly intact, but the small crack had turned into a long cut that ran through most of their chest.

Small cracks even tried to expand from the wound's edges, but the crystal suppressed that lingering destruction to prevent further damage. Still, the event made one thing clear. Noah couldn't only hurt them. He could completely overwhelm them.

Noah exploded with power while Heaven and Earth remained on the sky. A solid stage aura emerged from his figure and spread in every corner of the higher plane. The void darkened due to his influence, and everything started to tremble when two swords appeared in his grasp.

"I told you to get serious," Noah exclaimed, and the tremors intensified.

Pride reeked out of the intense tremors. King Elbas and the others could sense the oppressing and domineering force that Noah was radiating. His voice could carry undisputable orders, and Heaven and Earth ended up in their target.

"You are indeed the greatest expression of the cultivation journey," Heaven and Earth declared, and Noah swung his arms.

The gesture appeared seamless. Noah's blades cut through the void without meeting any hindrance, but King Elbas and the others felt that something heavy enveloped the whole scene.

A massive force eventually materialized before Noah. A giant slash that connected two extremities of the higher plane formed in front of him and instantly expanded to reach Heaven and Earth.

The attack carried multiple meanings, but nothing about it resembled the chaotic violence that Noah usually expressed. The slash took the form of a curtain that split most of the higher plane into two different areas and made the crystal figure disappear.