Chapter 1358: 1358. Bai

Noah couldn't understand the intentions of those cultivators by their simple stares. He had just landed on the city in the end. It was only normal for those experts to inspect him.

The defensive robes worn by those experts revealed their status. Most of them belonged to well-known organizations that had deployed them in the Land of the Fallen to fight for the resources that it contained.

Some cultivators didn't appear to belong to any famous force. Noah couldn't understand if they were hiding their status or were simple experts who had flown there in the hope of obtaining something valuable. Still, he didn't care about that.

'They don't need to hide their hatred,' Noah thought when he sensed a series of intense gazes landing on his back.

Those gazes came from cultivators who wore white robes that featured a series of purple designs. Noah couldn't fail to recognize them. They belonged to the Crystal City.

Noah ignored those experts and hurried forward. Those cultivators didn't follow him, but he could sense that they activated their inscribed notebooks when they saw him leaving.

Silkpost city had similar rules to Vagona city. The leaders of that settlement didn't allow fights in its range, but their restrictions had noble reasons.

Noah had studied that in the library. Silkpost city had three leaders in the eighth rank who actively entered the Land of the Fallen to seize resources for the human side.

Those three powerful existences lived to stop the magical beasts' advance, so they forbid cultivators from fighting among themselves. They couldn't bear to see the human side getting weaker on its own.

The rank 8 leaders belonged to three prominent organizations. One of them came from the Crystal City, one from the Monneay family, and the last from the Sailbrird family.

Their position in Silkpost city benefited their organizations since they could overview most of the resources retrieved in the Land of the Fallen. Those experts could even affect some of the secret auctions and underground markets.

Their power would typically allow them to act as they wished in Silkpost city. Still, they did their best to keep an eye on each other to avoid internal clashes. Their position wouldn't even last forever since the famous organizations often organized tournaments to decide who could rule there.

Only the Crystal City didn't have to join those tournaments. Its work on the border with the magical beasts' domain gave its members an honorary position in the city and an eternal spot on the ruling seat.

Noah had learnt all of that in the library. He knew that the Crystal City wouldn't attack him as long as he remained in the range of the other two powerful auras. His casual stroll expressed how safe he felt in that place.

'I wonder how many will come after me,' Noah thought as he inspected the various shops.

The buildings in Silkpost city mostly sold battle-related items. Every expert there aimed to approach the Land of the Fallen, so that type of business flourished there.

The inscription halls were also different. They didn't have large gardens where inscription masters could exhibit their ability. All the work happened inside their main structures.

Noah didn't find anything interesting in the shops. The lack of diversity in their products soon bored him, especially since those items couldn't compare to those found in Vagona city.

Still, he didn't interrupt his stroll. Noah wanted everyone to see that he had landed on Silkpost city. He had to be sure that his opponents learnt about his arrival.

Noah activated the Divine Deduction technique at some point. That ability couldn't help him find those after his bounty, but he didn't like to waste time. He could study Great Builder's teaching while he played the bait in his own hunt.

The theory behind the workshop hid great power. Noah knew that he could implement it in the dark world and improve his technique's overall strength.

The danger that filled his surroundings pushed his mind to do better. Noah used the bounty on his head as fuel that forced him to get closer to a solution.

The dark world could provide the materials and the manpower. Noah only needed wills capable of programming the dark matter to create the workshop inside his technique.

His expertise led him to test his ideas on wills with the shape of magical beasts. The experience accumulated with the Body-inscription spell also helped him polishing his creations.

'This won't work either,' Noah thought as a series of ethereal figures crumbled and fused with his mental sea.

Even seas of consciousness in the divine ranks had their limits. Noah's thoughts contained immense power, but he couldn't devise an entire living being and give it orders without depleting their energy.

The dark matter also forced him to use more energy than usual. Affecting ordinary materials would be easier in his situation, but Noah didn't know where to build the workshop if he didn't rely on his higher energy.

The dark world had to be the core of the workshop. That technique was too perfect not to pair it with Great Builder's inheritance.

'I need to start with simple creatures,' Noah eventually concluded. 'Ants, flies, anything that won't crumble before it completes giving orders to the dark matter.'

Noah didn't ignore his surroundings while his mind worked on finding a solution to his issue. He noticed how a few cultivators had started to follow him, but their power didn't make them a threat in his eyes.

Those were simple scouts sent by the forces that had received the wanted poster. Their job was to keep an eye on him and understand where he was going.

'Didn't they tell them that I am a hybrid?' Noah wondered as he continued to stroll through the city.

The scouts had decent hiding techniques, but they were useless against his superior awareness. Noah could even smell them among the groups around him.

They could hide from a cultivator, but any hybrid would spot them immediately. Noah knew that the Crystal City didn't lie about his species, so he couldn't understand the scout's behavior.

Something felt off, so Noah began to accelerate. The smell that reached his nostrils became less intense, which allowed him to understand what the scouts were up to.

The scouts accelerated together with Noah, but they eventually saw him shoot in the air and leave the city's range. Unsightly expressions appeared on their faces when they sensed that they had failed to put a tracker on him. The smell didn't manage to mark his robe.

Noah flew toward the Land of the Fallen, but he didn't use his full speed. He wanted his pursuers to follow him, so he couldn't use his real power during the travel.

A vast plain soon unfolded in his vision. For the first time since his ascension, Noah saw a region devoid of magical plants. That land still contained the Immortal Lands' usual energy, but nothing grew on its barren soil.

Multiple groups of cultivators occupied specific locations of the plains. Sparse flashy buildings filled the environment, and lines of experts often stretched from them.

The atmosphere became even tenser once Noah reached the plain. The air felt dense with aggression, sorrow, hatred, and anger. It was as if he could sense the emotions radiated by the past experts' dying wishes.

Noah took a while to become used to that atmosphere. His superior awareness made him feel more than others, so his mind had to endure the streams of violent emotions that landed on its ethereal surface.

Chaotic memories also appeared in his vision. Noah saw messy images flashing in front of his eyes before his focus returned.

'How can so many powerful experts die in the same place?' Noah wondered as he learnt to fend off the violent emotions that filled the area.

Then, when he managed to suppress that external influence, he turned his eyes toward a large crack that spread through the plain and almost divided it into two different regions. The entrance to the Hellish Landscape was at its bottom.