Chapter 1922 - 1922. Universe

Sword Saint did his best to explain his new state as the duo flew back to their companions. Noah couldn't completely understand his friend's descriptions due to his lack of knowledge for matters that went past the ninth rank. Still, a vague idea formed in his mind after the expert relied on a few metaphors.

The sword path turned out to exist as a form of energy that went beyond laws and worlds. Sword Saint couldn't exactly describe it since he remained a rank 9 cultivator. Still, his connection with that power allowed him to express how he had felt during the breakthrough when his mind had touched that realm.

"Imagine every idea and law about the sword," Sword Saint explained. "They all belong to the same vast path, and the universe resonates with them. I sensed a complicated array of notions built by brims of understanding collected from countless different existences far away, hidden in the darkness, untouchable."

The explanation made some sense. Noah's superficial understanding came from what he had learnt from the old rulers about the difference between existences and worlds. The latter seemed to have innate laws, so it felt normal for the universe as a whole to have a similar structure.

It was pointless to look for the origin of everything. Noah preferred to focus on the current state of the universe since knowing something about those fields would probably help in the breakthrough to the tenth rank. Sword Saint could grant him access to a perspective that he couldn't gain under the sky, so he didn't hesitate to pester him with questions.

Sword Saint happily answered since his understanding also grew during that interaction. He and Noah were trying to gain access to a world that their current power and situation didn't allow them to study properly.

'Law isn't the exact word for that power,' Noah thought as he summarized the vague answers that Sword Saint had managed to give. 'They should have similar functions, but they don't seem to follow the same evolution of the existences.'

An existence was a law that would evolve into a world. What came after was hard to imagine since the experts had nothing around them that could give hints, but they guessed that it would involve the expansion and the thickening of their personal dimensions, at least at first.

Instead, worlds were different. They were an array of laws that executed precise functions without ever taking part in the struggles on their insides. Traces of wills would appear only during enemy attacks or similar catastrophes, but it felt pretty evident that they had no desire to improve.

Sword Saint could almost confirm that something similar existed on a far vaster level with the universe as a whole. Arrays containing all the laws connected to the same path stood somewhere among the blackness of that immense structure. As for what they meant, Noah could only guess.

However, one feature appeared almost clear after hearing Sword Saint's descriptions. Those arrays weren't like Heaven and Earth. They didn't steal nor devour other laws. They seemed to obtain them as soon as someone expanded the fields connected to their core ideas.

According to Sword Saint, the array meant for the sword path already had versions of his previous techniques since copies or originals had appeared during the eras that had proceeded his birth. His formless slash was the only ability that came directly for him.

Sword Saint didn't sense the entirety of the array, but it had been easy for him to resonate with the techniques that already belonged to his existence. That had allowed him to find his formless slash in a mighty structure that existed in hidden areas of the universe.

The arrays' seemingly harmless nature and their vastness made Noah believe that they were simple rules of the universe. They probably existed to keep track of the evolution of the different paths created by the existences. He even wondered whether they were a counterpart to cultivators and other beings meant to balance the power in the universe.

That would transform the universe into an ecosystem where worlds and existences balanced each other and kept everything stable. Noah couldn't take them as recorders of everything that happened in the various worlds since they had given energy to Sword Saint. They had fuel, but using it didn't sound like its main purpose.

His thoughts also went on the stars that had existed in his vision since his revealing experience in the Royal Academy. They could be some of the arrays felt by Sword Saint, or they could represent existences that had become strong enough to illuminate the universe with their personal words.

It was annoying to invest time in answers Noah couldn't find, but that process felt necessary. It would give him a range of options and hypotheses ready for when his existence could understand those topics properly. Also, it fueled his ambition to wonder about how that structure could affect his path ahead.

"What if an existence finds the array that has accumulated all the different laws and aspects of the general path," Noah eventually asked while turning toward Sword Saint. "What if you find the sword array? Will it absorb you? Will you absorb it?"

"The sword array shouldn't have any reason to absorb me," Sword Saint responded while scratching his chin. "It already has me. Everything I develop will appear there if it has connections with the sword path. This happened even before my evolution to an avatar."

"Do I have to look for the destruction array after leaving this world?" Noah wondered. "But that means searching for the life, space, time, greed, hunger, ambition, and probably something else array. That's a lot of arrays."

"Maybe you need that to embody the entirety of those general ideas and reach the areas past the universe," Sword Saint added to that reasoning.

"Hopefully without turning into a giant version of Heaven and Earth in the process," Noah joked. "Anyway, the arrays must be part of the journey after the ninth rank. I even think that we might need to give energy to the universe at some point."

"What makes you think that?" Sword Saint asked.

"We reach these levels by taking fuel from worlds until our existences become able to generate energy on our own," Noah explained. "The universe would have shattered if everyone kept taking endlessly."

"That's very vague," Sword Saint commented. "We don't know enough about the universe to define clear paths or establish answers. Who knows? Everything might be even more personal after the ninth rank?"

"Sure," Noah scoffed. "Personal while an unclear array of something everything you accomplish. I feel the need to eat them already."

Sword Saint laughed when he saw Noah's exasperated desire to become stronger and jump into that higher realm. He didn't even become a complete rank 9 expert yet, but he was already coming up with plans meant for the journey after that.

"Noah," Sword Saint eventually said in a slightly hesitant tone. "I must imitate Alexander."

"I know," Noah sighed as his mood also turned serious. "You'll probably leave after this battle. It's fine. That's how our path works."

A heavy mood was about to fall on the duo. Sword Saint had even checked the insides of his space-ring to find some wine from the orange city, but a strange scene unfolded at that point.

The two experts had never been too far away from King Elbas and the others, so reaching them wasn't an issue. Yet, they didn't expect to see such a fiery and messy battlefield.

An immense nine-headed fiery hydra in the middle tier roared as winged cockroaches assaulted it from every direction. The creature was trying to reach the upper tier specimen, but it kept failing while the army pierced its body.

The golden flames released by the creature burnt most of the cockroaches, but the upper tier specimens managed to make its heads explode every time it charged ahead.

The heads grew back quickly, but the hydra clearly took its energy from external sources. Noah and Sword Saint didn't take long to notice the disk with their friends sitting cross-legged on it. However, their bodies were a mess. All of them resembled nothing more than dried-up skeletons.

"I think I've found your training dummy," Noah announced, and Sword Saint smiled coldly.