Chapter 803: Journey
Zac grimaced when he heard the Revenant’s description of the spatial seal that prevented them from leaving the Orom World. He wasn’t exactly certain what ‘Dao manifested into law’ meant, but he guessed it was like a Dao Field but innumerable times more powerful. From what he had gathered, Dao Intent was the next step after a Dao Field, and Dao Law might be multiple levels above that.
Dao Intent was a testament to the degree you controlled your Dao. It wasn’t dependant on the strength of your soul, though a powerful soul generally helped. When you reached the level of forming Dao Intent, you could condense your understanding into something more corporeal than just a large field around you.
It could essentially be turned into something akin to a skill, where you could kill a thousand people with a simple thought or empower your normal attacks. He still remembered the powerful blade of sword intent Thea had been imparted with from the Blade Emperor inheritance. That small fragment contained a huge amount of insights into the Dao of the Sword, and it had helped her both cultivate quicker and unleash powerful strikes.
Those were just simple tricks though, which were mostly useful against a large number of weaker enemies. The more important aspect was that by the time you could form Dao Intent, you had a far greater command of your Dao. Skills empowered by the Daos would become stronger and you would more easily integrate the Dao into your combat style.
Most likely Dao manifested into law meant you had such high control of a Dao that you could essentially change how the world worked in a certain area around you.
“Perhaps there are times weaknesses appear,” a beastman ventured.
“I think you are right,” another cultivator agreed. “I heard from a Gold Attendant that the Orom world occasionally enters some sort of dark state. All Cosmic Energy is dragged out from the world and the laws grow dim. People might think it happens when the Orom is fighting or entering dangerous pockets of space. It can’t waste energy on us in that kind of situation, which might present some opportunity.”
“I heard about that as well,” a golemoid cultivator with an earthy aura rumbled. “But cultivators are sealed by the brand when that happens, and everyone’s energy is siphoned off like in the bubbles. Who would be able to break out in that kind of state?”
Zac’s heart shuddered when he heard that there were windows of opportunity that could appear at any moment, but he kept his face impassive. Seeing as nothing else came up, he eventually excused himself before walking away. Zac continued along the edge, prompting half his field of vision to be the mountain range he had just passed, and the other half the purple nebula that stretched to the sky.
A few hours passed, and Zac activated his ocular skill to make sure none of the others were close. After making sure he was alone, he once more started pushing into the haze as he kept going, using everything from his Draugr-vision to [Void Zone] in an attempt to force his way through. The only thing he didn’t do was unleash powerful strikes like [Arcadia’s Judgement] out of fear that someone would notice.
Unfortunately, no matter what he tried, the result was the same.
It was just like the Hegemons before said, the concepts safeguarding the edge of the inner world were just too profound. It wasn’t a barrier that could be broken, and it wasn’t some sort of energy that could be nullified. The laws of the universe had been altered right at this edge, where up was no longer up, and left was no longer left.
Not even his Void Emperor-bloodline could subvert the laws of space like that, rendering his [Void Zone] useless. Still, Zac refused to give up. He had already decided to walk along the edge of the whole Orom World in search of opportunities, and that was what he would do. Some setbacks right in the beginning weren’t enough for him to give in to despair.
A few weeks passed like this, and Zac eventually entered the next zone. Along the way, Zac had encountered even more people who sought an escape, and his helplessness was mirrored in their expressions as they passed each other by. The place he had just entered was another rocky region, this one illuminated by a scorching sun and filled with fiery energies.
Rivers of magma flowed in crevasses, and Zac was shocked at how rapidly his surroundings had changed over the past hour. Zac eventually steered away from the edge, finding an unclaimed cave an hour’s trek away from the edge. There, he set up his arrays before taking out a bottle of [Stellar Enkindling Pills].
Three weeks later, Zac emerged, having broken open another 4 nodes and filled them with energy, providing him with thousands of more Contribution Points. He had officially entered the Late E-grade now, which meant that each node and each level provided even more attribute points.
Zac believed he had a pretty big advantage compared to the other E-grade cultivators in that regard. The few “lucky” ones who had survived the great filter were mostly at Peak E-grade already, with their eyes set at forming a core. They didn’t have easy access to Contribution Points in the same way as he did, which might become more important as a speedy escape started to look less likely every day.
Even after having consecutively opened four nodes in his head, Zac was still in decent shape. He had a pretty bad headache, but it was nothing compared to the suffering of blowing up your brain. It could have been much worse, but the damage was kept to a minimum thanks to his powerful soul.
Zac had continuously worked on familiarizing himself with his transformed soul while traveling, and he was getting increasingly adroit when controlling the nine tendrils. It was still not exactly smooth, but he wasn’t making big mistakes like the first time he tried shielding a node any longer.
He believed he would be able to improve his technique even further as long as he kept working on it, but it was enough to barely receive any physical damage while breaking open nodes with the help of pills, though the damage to his foundations was still there. Unfortunately, he had reached the limit of the [Stellar Enkindling Pills] for now, though he still had mountains of Beast Cores in his Spatial Rings.
You seldom had to wait long to spectate a duel from what he had gathered, considering there were tens of thousands who sought inspiration by alternating between fighting in the wilderness and battling on the stage. This soon after the Orom fed, the number of participants and spectators was even greater. Only the years before a culling would see more foot traffic, when people desperately struggled to break through.
Zac sat down at an empty seat with a decent view, just in time to see two warriors leave the arena. One was a human sporting a nasty wound in his side, whereas the other one was a beastman who was carried out by an attendant. Seeing as he might have to wait a while for the next fight, Zac took out a vat of spiritual wine he had moved over to his Cosmos Sack.
“First time here?” a friendly voice echoed out, and Zac looked over to see a smiling woman donning leather armor covered in unfamiliar runes.
On her belt, there were over twenty identical daggers, while two short-swords were sheathed by her hip. She had a bloody aura, but Zac didn’t believe she walked some sort of assassin path even if her weapons leaned that way. He felt a sense of familiarity as he looked at her. It wasn’t that he recognized the woman, but he rather suspected she walked some path related to the Dao of Conflict.
“Just arrived,” Zac nodded.
“New batch, huh?” she said as she thumped down next to him, her eyes locked to the vat in Zac’s hand. “I’m Yurul. I guess you could say I have some renown here. Fought over 2,000 matches, altogether.”
Zac smiled slightly as he took out another vat and handed it to her, prompting her eyes to light up. Her hands turned into a blur before she poured at least five liters worth of alcohol down her throat.
“That hits the spot. I’ve mostly been drinking ol’ Barrel’s swill for over a thousand years. It’s strong enough, but he insists on putting those centipedes inside. They taste alright, but it’s a pain when they bite your tongue,” Yurul sighed. “That’s what you get when buying alcohol from a poison master.”
“The centipedes are alive?” Zac said with a raised brow.
“They cultivate inside the vats, which purifies the brew,” Yurul shrugged. “You planning on competing? You seem like the fighting type.”
“I was told to avoid this place,” Zac smiled. “For now, I’m just here to watch.”
“Avoid?” Yurul repeated with confusion until her eyes widened. “Oh, you’re one of the brats? Bad luck, huh? Well, better than becoming fertilizer, I guess. Any chance of you getting out of here?”
“We’ll see,” Zac smiled.
He had been asked that quite a few times by now, though few were as direct as the gladiator next to him.
“Mooching off the newcomers again, Yurul?” a gruff voice snorted as a scarred ogre walked over.
“Don’t mind him. He’s just a bit pissy he lost 5,000 Purchase Points yesterday,” Yurul laughed. “Another of the regulars had just made a breakthrough in secret, and he chose Obbo to provide the celebratory gift.”
Zac looked at the ogre with confusion.
“People hide their breakthroughs to swindle good folks out of their Purchase Points. Arol pretended to get in a heated argument with me that lasted for five days, and it ended with me challenging him. It was all a ruse to make me place a larger bet,” Obbo sighed as he thumped down next to Yurul.
“Like you haven’t done the same,” Yurul snorted as she glanced at the arena. “Oh, Pavina is fighting today? She’s a tough one.”
Zac followed her gaze to see a Revenant emerge from one of the gates, her aura reeking of death. A small smile crept up across Zac’s face as he looked on. His luck had come through for him again. Pavina was actually a Silver Attendant and someone who seemed to cultivate Pure Death.
He had just visited the arena out of curiosity, but an opportunity to study someone who walked a similar path as himself had fallen right in his lap.