Noah had hoped for a better outcome. The flesh of a rank 6 being was an incomparable treasure, even more to him. Every piece of its body could become part of rank 6 inscribed items, objects with a power that only cultivators at the peak of the heroic ranks could wield adequately.
Yet, when the other parts of the snake's charred corpse fell apart and turned into dust, he accepted the fact that he had already been lucky enough to survive that encounter. When he considered the fact that he had even gained a lot from that meeting, the fact that he couldn't obtain the rank 6 body seemed reasonable.
A large bucket appeared in his hands, and his mental energy spread in the room to gather all the dust accumulated on the floor. There wasn't even an ounce of "Breath" in that material, but it still came from a rank 6 existence. It had to have some value in the hands of a suitable expert.
The dust floated inside the bucket, and Noah sealed it before storing it inside his space-ring. He didn't need to seal it since the formations inside his device were enough to prevent any form of spoiling. Yet, he was used to that practice due to the Body-inscription spell, so he simply executed it by instinct.
Noah focused on the chains afterward. They seemed to have lost their power after the death of the rank 6 existence, but he picked and stored them anyway. He couldn't leave them there.
When he turned to leave though, he found June and Faith staring at him with a tinge of awe in their eyes.
Noah's confused look was enough to force an answer out of June. "You do realize that you've killed a being in the sixth rank?"
Noah understood what she meant. The snake had managed to keep its shape even after the Tribulation erased every trace of energy from its body. The thought that Noah had caused the death of something so powerful had made both women realize how resourceful he was.
"The Tribulation killed it." Noah said, dismissing the respect that they were giving him, "The retribution of Heaven and Earth is what caused its death."
He meant those words. The three of them wouldn't be alive now if it weren't for the self-imposed chains restricting the snake.
The truth was that relying on Heaven and Earth had left a bitter taste in his mouth. He wasn't underestimating himself. He knew that few cultivators would have been able to revert the transformation in his situation.
Gazing at the laws made him able to complete his individuality only because his accumulation in his inscribed method was high. He was worthy of his new rank.
Yet, he couldn't help but see the event from the opposite point of view too. The fact that his individuality was ready to step on a higher level had been a fluke.
He had been smart in exploiting it, but he would be a dragon now if he didn't have a different path to complete during the transformation. His plan would have failed otherwise.
"Look at me in that way when I can kill existences on that level with my own hands," Noah said as he walked past the women and reached for the staircase.
He had always known that he was just a puppet when higher entities were involved. After all, he couldn't even see his lover freely since the forces behind them didn't get along.
Yet, completing his individuality had cleared most of his doubts when it came to the cultivation journey. There were crises that he couldn't predict, and beings that he couldn't control, but that wasn't a good reason to feel annoyed or angry.
Only his ambition to move forward mattered, together with the few things that his current power allowed him to care about. Everything else was outside of his grasp, and he wouldn't let it affect him since he had no control over it.
If he found a hindrance in his path to power, he would destroy it. If he lacked a road, he would create it. If his efforts ultimately led to death, he would accept it, knowing that he had lived just as he wanted.
June and Faith knew that Noah had changed after his meeting with the snake. Still, his personality was just starting to show that. Of course, June had noticed some slight differences in his behavior during their intimate moments, but most changes had yet to show up.
The three of them took all the scrolls and tomes contained in the castle and exited it through its main door. Heaven and Earth didn't react when they were in the hall, so they were confident that the calamity was over and wouldn't target them.
A wasted world appeared in their sight. Countless trails of smoke filled the sky in the distance, and most of the flora on the coastline of the continent had become nothing more than dust.
The island and the ruins on it were relatively intact since the Tribulation had focused its rage on the top floor of the castle, but a few black craters still filled its surface.
The three of them tried to contact the assets of their respective forces, but they didn't obtain an answer. Also, no mental messages had arrived after the lightning storm went away, which meant that every note left by their leaders had vanished together with the black clouds.
They were alone and on the opposite side of the continent. They didn't even know how the situation had evolved after the month spent inside the castle.
"We can only reach the volcano," Noah said, and his companions nodded at his words.
If those were their Mortal Lands, they could just wait for some of the higher-ups of their organizations to pick them up and escort them back to their headquarters.
However, they didn't know if the portal had survived the Tribulation nor if any of their companions were still alive. They didn't even know if the other heroic assets had just abandoned them when the lightning bolts started to fall.
So, they could only fly to the volcano and evaluate the situation by themselves. Only then would they be able to decide on their next move.
Noah closed his eyes and spread dense mental waves that carried an intense pride. His mental energy obtained a peculiar aura when it crossed the walls of his mind, and the environment instinctively reacted to his thoughts.
The "Breath" around Noah gathered under his feet and lifted him in the air. Performing such simple tasks even if the inscription of his walls wasn't complete was easy, but he needed to become used to them.
It felt strange for the "Breath" to follow his orders, but it felt natural at the same time. It was as if his mind was meant to impose laws on the energy around him. He just didn't know it before that moment.
The Demonic Sword, June, and Faith quickly reached him, and they didn't hesitate to move in the direction of the volcano.