Ch.1

It had already been more than ten days since the end of the Divine trials. The treasure space had just declared the result of the Divine trials and it immediately brought smile on the faces of all the participants including the ones that didn’t get a good rank. Nero and Rudolf had declared that all the participants would receive a heavenly treasure that was suitable for them irrespective of their rank along with the previously declared rewards like the ones that had secured good rank would be nurtured by their respective family clan until the next divine trials. This made even their family members of all the participants equally excited. This was decided by Herman and Heron to make up to all the participants for the increase the difficult of the Divine trials without prior indication.

Ryan’s rank in Divine trials was one hundred eighty which was extremely good considering his age and cultivation level. His rank made him eligible to be nurtured by both the family clans. This immediately brought smiles on the faces of his and his entire family and a feast was made to celebrate it. The fact that Oscar, Emilia and rest were so for his sake made Ryan extremely happy. He couldn’t help but once again thank the heavens for giving him family in this life.

The festive atmosphere that was created in both Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan after the result declaration of the Divine trials was suddenly replaced by a tense atmosphere after a few days’ time.

The reason behind this tense atmosphere was due to the Calamity sect making extremely dangerous maneuvers against the Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan in the past few days. The dangerous maneuvers by the Calamity sect had increased the troubles for the Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan in one way or other as well as threatened their existence.

The Calamity Sect had created an alliance that was anti to Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan. The alliance was named Star alliance. The Calamity sect was easily able to convince a number of factions that had enmity with both the Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan to join the Star alliance. The factions that had joined star alliance also had their main branches in Divine universe just like Calamity sect.

A number of these factions had age old enmity with the Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan. The Grandura branch of these factions felt that they could clear their blood feud to certain extent with the Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan by destroying the Grandura branch of both the family clans after joining the Star alliance since they had received news from their main branches about the predicament of the main branches of Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan some time ago. The main branches of these factions also had no problem as they knew that the Silver Oak sect was actively searching for the Herman and company after their escape from Radiant Divine world. This fact made them certain that Herman and rest couldn’t threaten them in their current situation in any manner.

This clearly increased the pressure on the members of the upper echelons of the Grandura branches of both the family clans as they knew that the current situation could easily deteriorate to an all-out war.

An all-out war was something they wanted to avoid in the current circumstance as it will lead to the involvement of their main branches. The main branches of both the Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan had just survived complete annihilation at the hands of Nebula sect so they wanted to avoid involving them. This fact increased the pressure on the upper echelons of the Grandura branch of both the Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan by multiple levels.

The Calamity Sect didn’t stop just at creating Star alliance. It and other factions of the Star alliance had also started to actively compete with Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan on everything right from Heavenly treasures that were sold in auctions houses around Grandura to treasure lands. This had resulted in the two sides exchanging blows on numerous occasions which had resulted in the death of a number of people on both sides. This created more and more enmity on both sides and a clash would occur every time the members of both sides came face to face.

Sheldon and his four companions wanted to kill their way into the Grandura branch of Calamity sect but decided against it as they didn’t want to create any more trouble for the main branches of both family clans. So, they decided to first contact Herman and Heron before making any move. They sent a mental message transmission to both Herman and Heron informing them of the situation of the Grandura branches of both the family clans. They could only wait until they get a response from them. In the meantime, they asked Nero and Rudolf to prepare for a full-scale war with Star alliance.

Rudolf asked all the members of the Eternity family clan that were still present in the Heavenly city to return to the Eternity family clan soon after. The reason behind such a dictate was linked to Sheldon’s and his four companions’ command to prepare for full-scale war with Star alliance.

The full-scale war preparation would require all the members of the senior generation of both the family clans including mortal realm ones to participate in war drills in their respective family clan. Oscar, Julia and rest of the members from Ryan’s paternal family had no choice but to return to Eternity family clan following Rudolf’s order.

Ryan was a little sad to part with his paternal family members but he got over it quite quickly as he knew that this separation was temporary. He had the option to tag along with Oscar and company to Eternity family clan but decided against it since he would be able to execute his plans more freely by staying in Heaven Sundering family clan.

There was also another reason why decided to stay behind in Heaven Sundering family clan. It was to increase his personal strength before entering the newly found legacy land at the bottom of the dried up luminous lake. The newly found legacy land was currently the hottest topic around Grandura and it was popularly called Ancient legacy land.

Ryan knew that it would be odd if the youngsters of the Calamity sect and the factions that were part of the Star alliance didn’t behave like savage beasts and try to kill him and others from his family clans once inside the ancient found legacy land given the current war like situation between the two sides. So, he had to increasing his personal strength even though he knew that with the aces up his sleeve could easily deal with them but he preferred not using them if possible. It could create a lot of trouble for him later on if by chance any of the participants that had seen him using them lives to tell the tale after coming out of the legacy land.

Ryan decided to start with increasing his comprehension of sword intent. He knew that his combat prowess would go up exponentially if he was able to comprehend first realm of sword intent. So, he made it his target that he had to achieve before the opening of the ancient legacy land in the coming few months.

It was early in the morning and Ryan was currently heading towards the living room of Estate as he could sense his Grandma Alexis there. Emilia and Blasius were currently in their respective closed-door cultivation sessions. He still had about six months before the ancient legacy land opened.

Ryan was visiting Alexis as he wanted to know if there was anything similar to Sword Pavilion in Heaven Sundering family clan. He had spent near about ten days trying to comprehend sword intent in his cultivation chamber but his gains were very less as compared to the time when he comprehended sword intent in cultivation chamber of Sword Pavilion. He only had a near about six months before the ancient legacy land opened and he wished to use this time as efficiently as possible.

He soon reached the living room and entered it. He saw Alexis looking at a sword in her hand with apt attention while seated on one of the arm chairs in the Living room. To be precise, she was checking the blade of the sword for any flaws. Blasius was a weapon smith by profession and he would create a number of weapon type artifacts every year which were mostly purchased by the members of both the family clans. Alexis would help him by checking the weapons created by him for any kind of flaws.

Alexis was so concentrated on her work that she didn’t notice Ryan until he was standing right in front of her.

“Oh! Sorry I didn’t notice you,” Alexis said in a startled manner as she placed the sword on the small table by the side of her armchair.

“Why did you exit your cultivation chamber so early? Are you facing any kind of trouble in your cultivation?” Alexis asked in worried tone.

“No nothing like that. I just wanted to know if there is any place to comprehend sword intent within Heaven Sundering family clan?” Ryan said with a bright smile. His smile and words immediately brought relief to Alexis.

“There is. It is called sword tower. It is located in the ancestral land of the Heaven Sundering family clan,” Alexis said.

“Can I go there and train?” Ryan asked in an excited manner.

“You can. I will take you there personally,” Alexis said with a light smile as she got up from the armchair and headed for the entrance of the estate. Ryan followed behind her.

Ryan and Alexis took off into the sky right after coming out of the estate and headed straight towards the Sword tower. The Sword tower came in the view of Ryan and Alexis after flying for about an hour after entering the Ancestral land of the heaven Sundering family clan. Ryan couldn’t help but marvel at the sight of the sword tower.

The sword tower was like a divine sword imbedded into the ground and gave off a very powerful and oppressive aura that could be felt from a quite distance. The entire area around the sword tower was barren for a few kilometers, unlike the other parts of the ancestral land that were covered in thick vegetation and extremely pure elemental energy. There was also no other building or structure built in that barren region.

Ryan and Alexis were covered with mysterious white light the moment they flew over the barren land around the sword tower. This energy belonged to a middle-aged man that was hovering in cross legged position above the sword tower. The middle-aged man had amicable smile on his face as he looked at Ryan and Alexis. Ryan and Alexis gave a gentle bow in the direction of the middle-aged man before flying towards the gate of the sword tower. They had pale expression as they felt a little uncomfortable even with the middle-aged man protecting them.

Ryan at this moment finally understood the reason why the region around the sword tower was barren. The sword aura released by the sword tower was strong enough to rip apart any being with cultivation level below immortal king realm.

Ryan and Alexis descended in front of the sword tower’s gate. They entered it without wasting time. The mysterious energy protecting them also disappeared the moment they entered the sword tower. Alexis and Ryan couldn’t help but sigh with relief as the inside of the sword tower lacked the oppressive aura of the sword tower. They then went to the reception area of the sword tower to rent a cultivation chamber for Ryan. The reception was being manned by a middle-aged woman.

Alexis and Ryan quickly gave the middle-aged woman a light bow as the latter was an ancestor level martial artist. She gave them a gentle smile. The sword tower was an important building of the Heaven Sundering family clan. So, it was under the care of an ancestor level martial artist at all times.

“Ancestor, my grandson wishes to comprehend sword intent so we would like to rent a cultivation chamber,” Alexis asked with expectant expression. The middle-aged woman looked at Ryan for a brief second before a smile appeared on her face. This woman was also from the fifth branch of the Heaven Sundering family clan and had quite high status within the Grandura branch of Heaven Sundering family clan. She was popularly known as Sword Saintess. Her comprehension of the sword intent was highest amongst all the members of Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan.

“You came on time. There is only one room available. Albus take Ryan to the empty cultivation chamber,” the middle-aged woman said as a hunched back man appeared out of nowhere behind Alexis and Simon.

“Follow me,” Albus said in an emotionless voice. Ryan nodded his head as he looked at Alexis.

“I can’t come with you as I lack sword life weapon,” Alexis said as she patted Ryan’s forehead following which he left with Albus via a staircase that was on the right side of the reception that went to the upper floors of the sword tower.

Alexis and the middle-aged woman chatted for some time following which Alexis left for the estate as there was no use in staying there anymore.

Albus soon led Ryan to the cultivation chamber. Ryan didn’t waste any time and directly entered it to begin his training. Albus returned to the reception soon after.

All the cultivation chambers of the sword tower were actually spatial cultivation chambers due to which all of them were way bigger than they looked from the outside. The cultivation chamber of the sword tower looked no different from the cultivation chamber of the Alexis and Blasius’s estate but the walls, floor and the ceiling of the cultivation chamber were imbued with sword intent that far denser than the sword pavilion of Divine martial sect. He couldn’t help but become excited as he knew that his comprehension of sword intent would increase exponentially. The cultivation chamber also had puppets and targets for training purpose.

Ryan sealed the cultivation chamber. He then took out Death sword from his soul world and walked to the center of the cultivation chamber and started to practice the first slash of Heaven Sundering sword martial skill.

Meanwhile, the members of the upper echelons of the Grandura branch of Heaven Sundering family clan and Eternity family clan were in a dilemma whether they should send youngsters from their family clans or not to the ancient legacy. They had the same concerns as Ryan about the youngsters from Calamity sect and other factions that were part of Star alliance targeting the youngster from their family clans. They had even contacted a number of other factions with which they had friendly ties but the response from them was vague. This made it clear to the them that no one wanted to oppose the Star alliance by forming an alliance with them of any kind given the fact that the status of their main branches was still unclear to the main branches of other factions. So, the youngsters of their family clans would be on their own once inside the ancient legacy land.

They knew that if they didn’t allow youngsters from their family clans then their youngsters would be weaker in comparison to the ones from other factions that find an opportunity inside the ancient legacy land. They were certain that the ancient legacy land would have numerous heavenly treasures that could help martial artists to unseal innate abilities of their martial spirits. This made it difficult for them to decide. In the end, this matter was taken to Sheldon and his four companions.

“We will only send those kids that have the ability to deal with multiple opponents without any problem. Inform every kid that has registered their names with law enforcement department to enter the ancient legacy land that there will be a test where they will have to fight ten mortal sage realm elemental beasts simultaneously. The ones that defeat all ten elemental beasts will be allowed to enter the ancient legacy. There is no point in sending the rest as that would tantamount to sending them to their graves.” Sheldon declared after discussing the matter thoroughly with Danr, Brian, Cenric and Hague.

All the members of the upper echelons of Grandura branches of both the family clans also felt that this was the best solution to this problem. None knew about the manner in which the ancient legacy land would test the youngsters that enter it which meant there was high possibility that they would have to move around solo once inside.

The news about the test spread at an alarming rate in both the family clans. The ones that had cultivation of late mortal emperor realm and above started to train for the upcoming test. Many criticized the test set by Sheldon and company as the criteria was just too strict but on careful thought they realized the merits of the decision taken by Sheldon and his companions.

The ones that had cultivation level below late mortal emperor realm were clearly told that they couldn’t even take the test as there was no hope of them defeating ten early mortal sage realm beasts. Many of them were angry with such a dictate being issued by the Elders of their respective family clans as there was a still slight chance for them to gain a Heaven defying opportunity inside the ancient legacy land. They were ok with endangering their lives for it. In their eyes, it was better than remaining normal for the rest of their lives.

Soon a news spread in both the family clan. It was about Sheldon and company giving Ryan special permission to enter the Ancient legacy land even with his mortal lord realm cultivation level. This immediately aroused anger of many of the youngsters that wanted to enter the ancient legacy land but were unable to do so given the dictate of Sheldon and company. They found it extremely unfair. Many of them went to complain of the bias to the elders of their respective branches but quickly shut their mouths when they came to know about Thorn from their Elders.

The Branch Elders told their respective youngsters the things that Oscar had told the higher ups both the family clans regarding Thorn previously. The things that Oscar had told the higher ups of both the family clans were the things that Ryan had told him. Ryan had hidden a lot from Oscar about the real capabilities of Thorn but the number of things he had told about Thorn was enough to make Oscar and the higher ups of both the family clan to shake with joy. The things that shocked the youngsters the most was Thorn’s age and his cultivation level. It made them assume that Thorn possessed High grade bloodline purity just like everyone else. They knew that Ryan’s chances of safely coming out of the legacy land would be even higher than the ones that had mortal sage realm cultivation level since Thorn was by his side.

Since time ancient times, the tops geniuses that shook Grandura with their talent didn’t have cultivation level above mortal sage realm while they were still less than thirty years of age. So, Thorn’s cultivation level of mortal saint realm was sufficient to keep Ryan safe from the youngsters of other factions though there was no guarantee that he would be able to keep Ryan safe from the other dangers inside the ancient legacy land.

Thorn wasn’t the only reason why Ryan was given special permission by Sheldon and his companions. He was just one of the reason. The other was Lachesis. The information of Lachesis wasn’t made public due to the trouble that it might bring to both the family clans. Sheldon had previously test the combat prowess of Lachesis and found that she had the ability to fight with early mortal saint realm beings on par with her early mortal emperor realm cultivation level. This made her another trump card of Ryan. Sheldon and his companions still had no idea about Enkil. Otherwise, they would have also thought of him as one of the trump cards of Ryan.

Ryan had kept Enkil a secret from everyone and he wished to keep it so for a very long time as the presence of Enkil, a little winged dragon scorpion on Grandura was extremely odd. It was impossible for an egg of a winged dragon scorpion to hatch on Grandura even if it was transformed into evil fire spirit as even then it would death elemental energy or fire elemental energy of highest purity.

Sheldon and his companions would definitely ask him all sorts of questions. Ryan didn’t mind telling Sheldon and his companions about the extremely pure death elemental energy produced by death sword as he had full faith on them but Death sword had specifically asked him to keep quiet about it. The reason behind it was quite simple. If a family member of Ryan was to be caught by an enemy and had its memories read then within no time a calamity would be come knocking on the gates of his family clans. The preciousness of Heavenly Death pearl was unimaginable. When Ryan had transformed Enkil into evil fire spirit he knew that there was a chance that Solomon would come to know about it and he was ok with it. He got a feeling of invincibility from Solomon when he had met him due to which he wasn’t bothered about him ever getting caught by someone and have his memories read.

All Legacy lands have a small world inside them which have various kinds of terrifying creatures living in them. The cultivation level of those creatures is not at all suppressed by the legacy lands, unlike the treasure space. The legacy lands would give a common objective to all the youngsters entering them. The ones that are able to complete the objective are rewarded handsomely. The rewards could be martial skills, heavenly treasures and so on.

The youngsters couldn’t help but feel envious of Ryan. It was good that they didn’t know that Thorn was a late immortal saint realm elemental beast while being only a year old otherwise they would have definitely vomited blood.

A number of days passed since Ryan had entered the sword tower. His training was going quite well. He had a feeling that in the coming few weeks he could completely comprehend the first realm of sword intent at his current speed.

Ryan was currently practicing the third slash of the Heaven Sundering sword martial skill- ‘One slash turns into hundred slashes’ in the cultivation chamber of the sword tower allotted to him. In this slash, a single sword beam turns into hundred sword beams which could be controlled by a martial artist using his will. The hundred sword beams possess 1/5th power of the sword beam from which they originate. This slash is meant for dealing with large number of enemies that are weaker than the user.

There was a big metallic disc embedded in one of the walls of the cultivation chamber. Ryan was using it as the target for practicing the third slash. He would slash one sword beam after the other. All the sword beams would split into seventy or eighty beams instead of the supposed hundred beams. It was clear that Ryan was still quite far from mastering the third slash. Ryan suddenly stopped as he received a series of mental message transmission from Isa which made his expression turn grim.

“Isa, are you certain about this,” Ryan asked in a grim tone via mental message transmission.

“Yes master, there is no doubt about it,” Isa tone was equally grim as he replied via mental message transmission. He was seriously worried about Ryan’s safety even though he knew that it wouldn’t be easy for anyone to kill Ryan.

“Thanks for the information Isa. I will contact you if I need your help,” Ryan said via mental message transmission as he ended his conversation with Isa.

“It seems that the object that had come from the outer space is quite precious that even the main branch of the Calamity sect is interested enough to send a few youngsters to specially retrieve it.” Yama said in a serious manner as he could tell that the dangers inside the ancient legacy land would undoubtedly increase manyfolds. Isa was previously tasked by Ryan to find the person in the Calamity sect that had Undying fire beast martial spirit just like Shana but he had been unsuccessful in doing so but he had unearthed a great conspiracy of Calamity sect.

Generally, no faction of Divine universe would ever send their youngsters to a lower world until and unless their existence was threatened as these youngsters won’t be able to leave that world until and unless they reach a required cultivation level for that lower world. In order for beings to ascend to Divine universe from Grandura, they must first reach late immortal saint realm and after that they would have to condense a few celestial runes after reaching late immortal saint realm before they could leave the confines of the atmosphere of Grandura and ascend for Divine universe. This might take tens of thousands of years to millions of years depending on the individual as condensing celestial runes on Grandura wasn’t any easy task. It sometimes took millions of years for a late immortal saint realm being to condense them. So, sending youngsters from Divine universe to Grandura was just like playing with their future as the opportunities on Grandura paled in comparison to the ones in Divine universe. This fact showed the preciousness of the object from the outer space.

The things that alarmed Ryan and his martial spirits the most was the cultivation level of those youngsters. According to Isa, all of them had quite terrifying cultivation levels. A few amongst them were already in early stages of Immortal realm. This fact had shaken up Ryan a little bit as he was far from being a match of an immortal realm martial artist on his own though he could use other means like his undead creatures and Thorn to fight them but it would be odd if they didn’t have similar means being from the main branch of Calamity Sect and such high cultivation level.

The speed at which martial artists cultivated in the Divine universe could easily outstrip the ones in the mortal universe. This fact made it easy for martial artists to become immortal realm martial artist in Divine universe even if they have mediocre talent while they were still in their hundreds as the quality of elemental energy as well as Heavenly treasures that they could gain was not something the youngsters from lower worlds could compete with.

The other thing that was bothering Ryan was the fact that the rules of the legacy land also didn’t restrict the level of charms or the level of the artifacts that the youngsters entering it could carry along with them. This fact made Ryan uneasy. If it had only been youngsters from Grandura then all this would have not matters as he could have easily dealt with them even if they were to bring along high-grade immortal artifacts with them and charms that had the attack of a late immortal saint realm martial artist sealed in them but same was not the case with youngsters from the main branch of Calamity sect. They might have artifacts meant for gods and celestials and charms that could even endanger the life of a god on them though such artifacts and charms lose their original might on Grandura but they could still easily threaten the life of any actual late immortal saint realm being with extreme ease. Ryan was sure that they would be having a lot of dangerous stuff on them.

“So, how should we proceed?” Ryan asked in somewhat helpless manner to his martial spirits. He was at this moment thinking of backing off from exploring the legacy land and also stopping his family clans from sending martial artists of the younger generation for exploring it. He had no intention to unnecessarily risk his own life and also let his fellow clan members risk their lives. He could kill Rai on a later date.

“Ask Isa to keep an eye on those youngsters from the main branch of the Calamity sect and try to find a little bit more about the object that had come from the outer space. We will decide our future course of action based on it,” Yama said in a calm manner. Ryan, Dargar and Earl couldn’t help but agree with Yama’s suggestion.

“Isa, can you try to find more information about the object that has come from the outer space.” Ryan immediately asked via mental message transmission.

“I am already on it, Master.” Isa replied via mental message transmission.

“Thanks, and sorry to trouble you during your critical moment.” Ryan said via mental message transmission as guilt made his heart little heavy.

“Master, don’t worry about my cultivation. It is progressing well and I will step into celestial realm within a next few days. I am most of the time cultivating while the information is being collected by the disciples of the calamity sect under my control.” Isa said via mental message transmission in an excited manner which stunned Ryan and his martial spirits.

“Isa, can you be a little clear?” Ryan asked via mental message transmission as he was unable to understand him.

“Master, I possess an innate ability that allows me turn other living beings into my loyal followers provided their cultivation level is below me by an entire realm. They are no different from puppets and will do anything that I command them. The chance of anyone finding about my deed are also extremely low. So, I was able to turn quite a number of Mortal realm disciples of Calamity sect into my loyal followers. Some of these disciples have been asked to serve those youngsters from the main branch of Calamity. The information that I had told you earlier was also collect by them,” Isa said via mental message transmission with a hysterical laugh which made Ryan remember that Isa was actually a demon and his way of doing things are bound to be nefarious in every sense. The fact that Isa was using the disciples of calamity sect as disposable assets didn’t bother him at all but his guilt towards Isa reduced significantly due to it.

“Keep up the good work and inform me immediately if you are able to find something important,” Ryan said via mental message transmission in an encouraging tone.

“Yes master,” Isa replied via mental message transmission in an excited manner as the conversation between them ended.

“We can only wait for Isa to send some good news. In the meantime, I will try to increase my strength,” Ryan said in an unexcited manner.

“I think it is time for you to use Devil’s enlightenment to its full potential.” Yama said in a serious manner. Earl and Dargar couldn’t help but agree with Yama.

“I will have to go some other forest if I wish to use Devil’s enlightenment,” Ryan said in a gloomy manner. He knew that his mother wouldn’t allow him to leave the limits of the Heaven Sundering family clan that easily during the current turbulent times. The reason he would have to go to some other forest instead of killing living beings in the Heavenly forest was due to it being one of locations meant for war drills for the upcoming war with Star alliance. So, Ryan and anyone else that was not going take part in them were strictly forbidden from entering the Heavenly forest for the next few months. A number of traps and other defensive measures would also be placed in Heavenly forest in the coming months so Ryan had no choice and to go to some other forest to slaughter elemental beasts.

“If the object from the outer space really turns out to be a life changing opportunity or some kind of powerful Heavenly treasure then we will have no choice but enter to it. We can’t let it fall into the hands of the Calamity sect since you wish to annihilate them in future. If that thing falls into their hands then it will only increase our difficulties in future. We might even lose our lives,” Yama said. His tone was still serious and grim.

Ryan couldn’t help but agree with Yama as he nodded his head as he exited the cultivation chamber allotted to him in the sword tower. He knew that as long as he burned living beings to death then his insights and understanding in death elemental laws and fire elemental laws would continue to increase at a terrifying pace provided those beings had same cultivation level as him or higher.

Ryan exited the cultivation chamber and headed to the reception.

“Grandma, I will be heading home. Thank you for letting me use the cultivation chamber,” Ryan said to the middle-aged woman at the counter as he gave her gentle bow.

“Why did you exit so early? Your grandmother had told me that you will comprehend sword intent for a month or so,” The middle-aged woman asked. She was certain that it was impossible for Ryan to comprehend first realm of sword intent in such a short time even if he was a heaven defying genius.

“I think I have hit a bottle neck. I am unable to comprehend sword intent any further,” Ryan lied with a straight face. The middle-aged woman nodded her head as she couldn’t find faults with Ryan’s excuse. It was normal for martial artist to hit bottlenecks in their martial path even if they were genius.

Ryan then bid her goodbye and exited the sword tower. He then took off into the sky and headed straight towards his home.