His back showing, Alexander indulged himself in the trio's near agony.

Turning around, his murderous intentions did not show, covered under his amicable appearance.

"Yes? Does this young lady have anything to add?" Already knowing the answer, he waited patiently, a responsive woman not keeping him waiting for long.

"I would like to request your assistance!" Standing up with vigor, the two young men did the same, but with opposing motives.

"My lady!"

"Miss Verdia!!"

Shocked, the two did not understand why their dear miss Verdia would ask for Alexander's help, the young silver haired man unknown.

Contrary to them, Alexander's creepy smile showed greatly, his eyes freezing under their outward warmth.

"I would be honored! As for the loot, let's talk about it later." Cupping his fists, Alexander saw the young lady walk past him, followed by the two other youths.

"Let's go!"

-----

Deep within a dense forest of lush trees, Alexander casually walked behind the three future corpses.

'I'm not one to wait when unnecessary, so once I know where that Belial thing is... hehehe! Only such a being can be my first real fight!!'

Half an hour later, the young lady raised her hand, indicating for them to stop. While curious, nobody made a sound, soon hearing the rustling of leaves.

Frowning, they saw an entire tree be uprooted by a large purple hand, falling over on the side.

Sweating, they all took a step back, including Alexander, not intending on being some cannon fodder.

'Strong! What a great first real opponent!' Shivering from excitement, Alexander estimated the creature to be overall stronger than him by fairly small margin.

"In formation!!" Shouting, the young lady Verdia jumped backward, now in the middle of a triangle formation with Alexander and the two others.

The creature roaring, its purple skin shining, its figure could now be seen, a humanoid monster around fifteen million kilometers tall, or about fifty percent taller than Alexander. On its head, protruding grey horns a true sight to behold.

Its muscles bulging, the Tyrant Belial took a step forward, about to attack when...

'?!' His mouth wide open, the long haired youth watched in horror as Alexander's hand held a beating heart, pumping out blood periodically. Seeing the path Alexander's arm took, miss Verdia's chest was covered in blood, her heart now in Alexander's grasp, right in front of her face, for her own eyes to distinguish in disgust.

"This Tyrant whatever is mine to fight! As for you guys... let me kill you quickly and I'll maybe leave your corpses intact!" His teeth showing, Alexander blurred, his figure vanishing as drops of blood flailed all over.

"AAAAAHHHH!! Guhak urgh.... My hand!!!!" Clenching his teeth in pain, the long haired youth held his left forearm with trickling tears, his left hand clearly missing.

"As for you... this is what you get for slapping my hand back then!" Ignoring the confused Tyrant Belial, Alexander kicked the man's stomach, crippling his World Core instantly, the Heavens nowhere to be seen, his cultivation forever extinguished.

'Let's not forget about the last one, I'm not one who likes being backstabbed!' Resolute, Alexander blurred, his handsome appearance disappearing once more, his figure fading in shortly after, this time behind the brown haired man.

"Wait! Let's talk ab-"

A fountain of blood flowing freely, Alexander's right hand clutched a beating heart, causing it to explode brutally.

"Alright... now that this is done, let's get to it shall we?" Not bothering to clean his red hands and clothes, Alexander kicked the ground. His [Nine Steps of Ascension] in full motion, he arrived near the Tyrant Belial at the ninth step, his stomping foot causing shockwaves to shatter the earth below.

Jumping, the Tyrant Belial avoided the strike and its explosion fairly easily, its agility nothing to scoff at.

'!!' Bending his back, Alexander dodged a sudden punch, the Tyrant Belial somehow able to kick the air to move.

'It used Celestial Qi... Not a bad idea!' Laughing madly, Alexander jumped as well, forming platforms of Celestial Qi for him to step on.

Colliding with the humanoid creature, Alexander felt his knuckles tremble from the impact.

'It seems my bare hands won't cut it!' Flicking his wrist, a sword appeared in his right hand, its blade shining a blue and grey luster.

"Take this!" His body stopping at specific intervals, Alexander noticed his sense of unity unchanged, the Heavens along the entire Celestial Realm unresponsive to his call.

'Whatever... it doesn't mean I can't use it! [True Martial Sword Strike]!' Alexander's edge cutting the air, the Tyrant Belial felt danger, immediately growing the distance between them, hoping to avoid potential damage, but to no avail.

'!?' Its face in disbelief, the purple humanoid saw blue blood gush out from its chest, a deep ravine inside its gigantic body, from its left shoulder down to its right hip.

'Not enough... while serious, it is not lethal...' Frowning, Alexander kept slicing again and again, using his [True Martial Sword Strike] as if a normal movement.

Like this, the fight lasted for many hours.

-----

Denial deep within its last roar, the Tyrant Belial collapsed on the dirt, its body a complete mess, riddled with gaping sword wounds.

'It has quite the agility I must say... but it doesn't mean I can't aim!' Having used his martial art many times, Alexander did not slice randomly, actively going for old cuts he had made, cutting deeper each time. The only issue being the Tyrant Belial's fast speed, dodging most of his sword strikes.

'Now that this is done, let's get to looting shall we?' Smiling, Alexander bent over, snatching space ring after space ring from the trio. Thinking for a moment, he decided to not even spare the corpses, putting their dead bodies along the Tyrant Belial's inside his internal world.

-----

Now quite the distance away, Alexander was just about to exit the forest when a group of cultivators approached him.

'They never end to they?' Exhaling his pent up annoyance, he smiled kindly, waving his hand at them, as if a long lost friend.

"I wonder what these friends here want from this young master?" Polite in his words, scheming in his mind, Alexander waited for their answers, which ended up being unwelcomed by all means.

"Give us everything you got! I won't repeat myself!!" Shouting at Alexander was a burly middle aged man, who, just like the rest of them, wore clothes befitting a beggar.

His brows furrowed, Alexander did not feel like wasting his time listening to nonsense all day, already having gauged them to be below him in strength.

"What are you waiting for?! Hurry u-"

A rolling head on the grass, painting it a shade of red, another two joined its solitude, Alexander not even letting the other members of this group scream, beheading all of them instantaneously.

Taking their space rings as well, he clicked his tongue.

'Trash! What the fuck is this supposed to be? A space ring or a garbage can? Even a random space ring of mine is worth countless times more! Truly beggars!'

His mood worsening, having spent a few moments on useless beggars already, Alexander resumed his journey, his feet sinking into the grass in anger.

'I can't waste time on this! I have to cultivate to the peak soon! And only a supreme one knows how long that will take me...'

Alexander was only talented thanks to the Saint King Realm's increase in potential along his rat-like means, hiding for hundreds of thousands of years in secluded cultivation, only stepping out when feeling confident in utterly dominating everything in sight.

'I'm not a fool like in those stories, though they did help me start in the cultivation world. But something they have wrong is the need of insane resources to cultivate. If you really want to, at the cost of many, many years, you can cultivate to the peak even without anything!'

His thoughts over, Alexander entered the city, already having travelled a great distance since the forest's incident.

Spreading his Divine Sense, Alexander stayed close to the myriad structures, spying on each, hoping to find his next target.

Unfortunately, he ended up with nothing for the day.

'Thankfully the days here are pretty normal, around one hundred hours, no three millennium bullshit as a single day...'

Now with some money, he did not hesitate to spend it on a comfortable inn by the roadside.

-----

Fresh in the morning, Alexander exited the inn he stayed at, strolling the giant city with entertainment, researching more about the world.

'Oh~, a school of sorts meant for kids, perfect! They must teach them more mundane things about the Celestial Realm. This is the common sense I need!' His Divine Sense covering the tall building in question, Alexander sat cross-legged on the side, ignoring the passersby's gazes. As such, he waited for days, listening attentively to all lessons with perseverance.

-----

Within the school, a young woman was teaching children about the wonders of the Celestial Realm, her happy smile comforting the children's minds, already agitated from going to school.

"Today we are going to learn about cultivation. I will teach you all very important things for your future, so keep notes if you can, and don't hesitate to question me if you need to." Opening a book, the mistress started to recite.

"The Celestial Realm host many powerful beings, from cultivators to beasts, demons, and more! We humans use Cultivation Realms as a measure of power and progress, not only important for a cultivator's understanding and teaching, but also for their sanity, an indication on how well and how much they achieved. If we were inside an opposite world, we can tell how much mental damage would be caused by not knowing about such measures. Spending thousands of years not aware if they are talentless and weak or talented and strong."

Waiting for them to stop looking blankly at the ceiling, she continued.

"There are many cultivation stages with different names, but some are used more than others. I will start with the Mortality Shattering Realm, the starting point of every cultivator here. It is divided into five stages. Namely the Celestial Qi Sensing, Celestial Qi Absorption, Celestial Qi Assimilation, Celestial Qi Ruling and finally the Celestial Dantian Forming."

"Woah~" Ignoring the empty cheers, the teacher sighed before resuming, reading further down.

"After that comes the Low Warrior Realm, at this stage one must refine the Celestial Qi within them, improving their constitution and future achievements. Following this trend are the next two major realms, namely the Middle Warrior Realm and High Warrior Realm. All of these are based on refining the body and Celestial Qi."

"Then comes the Pre-Celestial Realm, a very important stepping stone needed to reach the Celestial Body Realm. At the Pre-Celestial Realm, one must convert their Dantian into a World Core, before proceeding to open all meridians and acupoints flawlessly, forming a great foundation."

Dazzled, Alexander opened the book he had read before.

*Shuffle*

'Blabla I don't care~' Skipping page after page, he soon found his objective.

'Yeah... alright, I still don't care... Ah! Here! The Celestial Realm, the true starting point of all immortal cultivators, hoping to reach the Celestial Harmonization Realm. ...Wait, what? Is this level called the Celestial Realm or the Celestial Body Realm? I'm confused! Did I miss something or is it just two names for the same thing? And also, why are these so called stages plain rip offs from the Qi Sensing Realm and Qi Refining Realm... I even saw glimpses from the Foundation Establishment Realm!! Are they playing with me?!'

Clutching his head, Alexander's mood fell considerably, having conflicting information all around, not sure which source to trust, if any.

'This is going to be a long fucking day!'