Book 5: Chapter 41: Dragons (1)

Zabia shook his head when he saw the lights in Dyon’s eye brighten. He couldn’t tell what this brother of his was thinking, but it was very clear that he had completely disregarded his warning.

Dyon smirked, “This window is the best window, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s simple really. I may be handicapped right now, but it’s actually a blessing in disguise. Knowing you, you were always going to go back, no?”

Zabia nodded, “I have to. There are too many things left unfinished.”

“And I’m assuming that part of that plan was this Epistemic Tower?”

“We always had an idea of where it was, we just needed an opportunity. The problem was that I didn’t believe I was yet strong enough to conquer the tower, so I didn’t bother to. It’s also largely why I haven’t broken into sainthood just yet.”

“It’s a good thing you haven’t. How many meridians did you open initially?”

Zabia seemed a bit disgusted with himself, but he answered anyway, “I opened 100. But now, I’m stuck at 98. If this trend continues, I’ll likely fall a grade again.”

Dyon shook his head, laughing bitterly, “You’re disappointed by a first-grade foundation?”

“Don’t try and comfort me,” Zabia laughed, “I can tell that you, Alexandria and Madeleine all opened 108 meridians.”

Dyon waved Zabia off, “With the amount of resources we have, it only makes sense. Your family has been on the run. For you to come so and be so young is commendable. Plus, my first-grade foundation isn’t as impressive as you think. I’d be lucky to reach second grade for my essence gathering foundation.

“I won’t lie to you,” Dyon continued, “I have big plans for the future. In truth, even being an Emperor God Clan sounds too small to me.”

Zabia’s eyes constricted at these words, but when he saw how serious Dyon was, he couldn’t help but be in awe.

“Once we step into the Epistemic Tower, I plan on having every single one of my demon generals cleanse their cultivation completely and start from scratch.”

“What?” Zabia nearly fell back in his chair.

This was no normal plan. In fact, it sounded completely insane.

Zabia had seen first hand the kind of wrecking force the demon generals were. Quite frankly, he had never seen such a collection of talent even in his former quadrant. Even those Emperor God Sects couldn’t boast having 3000 disciples as refined as them.

When he asked Dyon about it, he found out that his demon generals weren’t even, in large part, from this quadrant at all. Dyon hadn’t needed the Pakals to tell him this, of course, because he had formed a bond with each and every one of them.

The demon sage had carefully selected them, as orphans, from across all hundred quadrants!

The only real shame was that there used to be many more, but they were killed during the Legacy trials or left in the world after it crumbled.

That aside, because of their talent, even in just these past two years, the demon generals that had once been lower saints, had steadily crept the mid tier levels. Such a speed was unprecedented! And yet Dyon wanted to tear it all down? Who knew how long it would take them to recover.

Dyon shook his head. “It’s not good enough.”

These words made Zabia want to faint, but he forced himself to stay awake to hear Dyon’s next words.

“My Demon Generals will be exactly that. Generals.

“They need to be so far and above the cut of any other warrior, that their mere presence strikes fear in the hearts of our enemies.

“Right now, they are only geniuses, and just that. It’s likely that if any one of the essence gatherers entered the world tournament, they would have completely destroyed us. But, that standard is not good enough. In fact, it would make me the happiest if I was the weakest among them all. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.

“I can say confidently that if my soul and energy cultivation wasn’t locked, I could beat every single one of my demon generals. Even the saints.”

Zabia’s respect for Dyon couldn’t grow anymore. But, that didn’t stop his awe from increasing. He understood that Dyon would never lie about such a thing. If he said it was true, then it was true.

If Zabia knew that Dyon was happy about being handicapped, maybe his awe would turn to a bitter laugh. The truth was that if Dyon wasn’t handicapped like this, he felt like any saint level trial would be too easy for him. Only like this could he improve.

“That said,” Dyon continued, “It’s not their fault. When they began following the Demon Sage, he was already in heavy decline, and the treasures he had left, on his person anyway, were pitifully small.”

Dyon remembered back to the treasure room that housed the Demon Sage’s coffin on the top floor of the Demon Sage’s Tower. Unfortunately, Dyon hadn’t completely the trials to access that level again, but with his memory, how could he forget what was in that room?

Usually, a tomb was where an expert would house all of their most precious treasures. And yet, the Demon Sage’s room was empty! Completely empty.

At first, Dyon thought nothing of this. Maybe the Demon Sage hid his treasures elsewhere and he’d only gain them by passing the trials. However, when Dyon spoke to the demon generals, he found out that he was very much wrong.

There were no hidden, not were the trials meaningful for anything else than gaining new abilities of the Demon Sage Tower. All of the Demon Sage’s treasures, along with his daughter, were hidden in the universe named ‘Chaos’.

However, there was another striking and shocking point… Every cultivation milestone the demon generals climbed was based entirely on their own merit…

They had no energy stones… No spiritual fruit… No cultivation techniques… All they had was their talent and the energy of the world around them…