Ch.2

Ryan’s spatial pouch that was tied to his waist started to vibrate on his way to home. He took out his mental message transmission orb from it and switched it on.

“Ryan, we have collected all the information that you needed,” Emerson’s voice rang in Ryan’s mind the moment he switched on his mental message transmission orb following which a large number of information appeared in his mind. A smile appeared on Ryan face. The information was about Dark moon family clan and it ranged from their recent activities to the location of their treasure lands. Emerson had also sent information of a few Heavenly treasures that were birthed by their treasure lands and were left by them there to increase their grades.

Most factions don’t harvest heavenly treasures that were birthed by the treasure lands under their control right after they are born. They would instead let their grades increase which happened on its own as they absorbed more and more elemental energy with the passage of time. The factions made sure that the identity of the Heavenly treasures that they had left in their treasure lands were never leaked as this arouse ill intentions in the minds of their enemies.

Raymond and Emerson had to pay a very heavy price just to get the information about the few Heavenly treasures in the treasure lands of Dark moon family clan. They had purchased this information from a bandit group called ‘Righteous bandit group’. These bandits were known for doing everything that couldn’t be called righteous except for them not targeting mortals. The Righteous bandit group was well known for robbing the treasure lands of powerful factions. The actual number of members in this bandit group was unknown but their hideout was well known to all factions of Grandura but no one dared to attack it.

Righteous bandit group was originally a faction of Divine universe that had created numerous branches of their factions on thousands of higher worlds including Grandura. It was an SS grade faction. These branches would appear mysteriously without the local factions knowing about it until it was too late to do anything. This was how the numerous branches of Righteous bandit group appeared on thousands of other higher worlds across mortal universe. These many branches on higher worlds made sure that the main branch was never short of manpower.

The main branch of Righteous bandit group was always at war with one faction or other at any given time due to which they lost substantial number of members every day but regular influx of new members to the main branch Righteous bandit group from thousands of branches on different Higher worlds across mortal universe made sure that they were never short of manpower.

The main branch of the Righteous bandit group treated the numerous branches on different higher worlds as their training centres. So, they had declared on all the higher worlds where they had branches that they wouldn’t mind if their members were killed while robbing the treasure lands of any factions but that was not the case if a faction dared to attack the hideouts of their branches. This warning made sure that none of the factions on Grandura dared to attack the hideout of the Grandura branch of Righteous bandit group and eradicate them once and for all including the ones that had their branches established in Divine universe. None of the main branches of different factions of Grandura were strong enough to oppose the main branch of the Righteous bandit group as the strongest amongst them were A grade factions in Divine universe. All this made sure that the thousands Righteous bandit group branches that were established on thousands of higher worlds would only sent the best and excellent martial artists to the main branch of the Righteous bandit group.

“Thanks, senior. This information is enough for me to create troubles of Dark moon family clan. I will contact you the moment I come up with something good,” Ryan said as a sly smile appeared on his face. He was already able to think of something good.

“Ryan, don’t make a move without letting us know about it beforehand,” Raymond’s voice came from the mental message transmission orb. He had taken the mental message transmission orb from the hands of Emerson.

“Master, don’t worry. I will inform you about everything that I do,” Ryan assured Raymond as he could tell that his master was quite worried about the entire matter.

Ryan had contacted Raymond right after leaving Izet in the death land of Heavenly forest and asked for information regarding the recent activities of the Dark moon family clan and anything of particular significance. He knew that the Dark moon family clan would create trouble for him sooner or later so he decided to make the first move. Raymond was somewhat hesitant but agreed after a little persuasion from Ryan and Emerson.

Ryan and Raymond talked for some time before they ended their talks. Ryan stored his mental message transmission orb in his spatial pouch. He changed directions mid-air as a devious smile appeared on his face. He had decided to visit Martial skill pavilion of Heavenly city before heading home. He was interested in a particular heavenly treasure that had come from the outer space and had fallen in a wood attribute treasure land under the control of Dark moon family clan. This Heavenly treasure was called Spectral diamond and it could be used to make a very powerful Avatar.

Avatars were nothing but additional physical bodies created by the martial artists using certain heavenly treasures. Spectral diamond was one of the best heavenly treasures for creating the body of an avatar.

The Heavenly treasures that could be used to create a body of an avatar were popularly called Creation heavenly treasures. All Creation heavenly treasures are of neutral attribute. The attribute and abilities of the avatar depends on the other constituents that are used other than the Creation heavenly treasures while creating it.

The avatars looked exactly like the real self of the martial artists. The martial artists have to put a portion of their soul into the Avatar which allows them to control their avatar just like their original bodies. The avatars of martial artists could gain a number of powerful abilities if a large number of Heavenly treasures are used while creating an avatar other than the creation Heavenly treasure.

Avatar is like an extra life for a martial artist. If the original body of the martial artist gets destroyed while the avatar was still alive then the martial artist wouldn’t die. The avatar would then become that martial artist’s new primary physical body as the avatar possesses portion of its soul. The portion of the soul in the avatar would then slowly become complete soul with the passage of time. It might take more than a few million years but this would allow a martial artist to live. This was reason why most martial artists preferred to have a number of Avatars. This was also true in case an avatar of a martial artists gets destroyed in a fight. The soul in the main body would soul become complete after a few million years allowing the martial artist to create a new avatar.

The number of avatars a martial artist could have also depended on the cultivation level of the martial artists as there was a limit to the number of times a martial artist could split his or her soul in each realm. In mortal realm, a martial artist could only split his or her soul once. The splitting of the soul didn’t affect the strength of a martial artist’s soul. So, the power of the soul attacks of the martial artists isn’t affected in the slightest due to splitting of their souls until a part of the soul in the avatar or the main body gets destroyed in a fight.

Ryan was certain that if he was able to get that Spectral Diamond from the clutches of Dark moon family clan and created an Avatar using it then the chance of his and Thorn’s survival inside the ancient legacy land would increase to a very large extent. So, he had no choice but to steal it though he had no intention to tell his master about it.

Since he lacked a martial skill that could help him in creating an Avatar so he decided to make a trip to the Martial skill pavilion of Heavenly city to get a martial skill that allows a martial artist to create Avatars.

The Avatars of the martial artists have the ability to level up and become stronger just like their real bodies. The Creation heavenly treasures are exceptionally rare and always in high demand due to which they are hard to come by easily. The avatar of a martial artists could also cultivate like the real body of the martial artist. The cultivation level of the avatar could never exceed the cultivation level of the main body.

If an avatar made up of Spectral diamond was in mortal realm then it was impossible for even immortal saint realm beings to destroy it though their soul attacks could destroy the portion of Ryan’s soul inside the avatar. That was equivalent to destroying the avatar. Spectral diamond was one of the hardest and strongest known Creation heavenly treasure. This was the main reason why Ryan was interested in it.

Previously, the Righteous bandit group had tried to rob the Dark moon family clan of Spectral diamond numerous times but had failed terribly each time as it was placed under very high security. The Righteous bandit group had overtime given up on it and this was the reason why they sold the information about it to Raymond and Emerson. They might have sold the information regarding Spectral diamond to numerous other factions and people in recent times. So, it wouldn’t be odd if someone else had already tried stealing it given its preciousness. The fact that the Righteous bandit group was still selling the information regarding it meant that no one had been succeeded until now. Ryan was thinking of framing the Calamity sect for the theft of Spectral diamond if he were to succeed. This was also one of his other aim in stealing Spectral diamond as he was certain that the Dark moon family clan would go berserk if it was to get stolen. This would also create trouble in the Star alliance.

In the meantime, Isa was making final preparations to advance to Celestial realm. He could very well advance to Celestial realm in the next few days. He had entered a deep cultivation state after his small chat with Ryan. His entire body was covered in a very dense baleful aura and thousands of runes were swirling around his body which were slowly and steadily merging with his body in turn increases his bodily toughness and strength.

These were the same runes that a late immortal saint realm being had to condense in order to ascend to Divine universe. These runes were called Celestial runes. A late immortal saint realm being would generally condense three to four celestial runes before it could leave the confines of Grandura. It would condense the remain celestial runes after arriving at Divine universe unlike Isa. Isa had the support of extremely pure death attribute elemental energy of death sword so he was able to condense thousands of celestial runes with extreme ease in one go. Once all of these runes finish merging with Isa’s body then it could be said that he had successfully advanced his cultivation level to early celestial elite realm.

The baleful aura released by his body had already spread in the entire valley where he was currently cultivating and had turned it into a forbidden zone. This allowed Isa to cultivate without fear of anyone disturbing him. The baleful aura was just one of the measures that made sure that no one disturbed him. The tens of thousands of undead creatures under his control were also hiding within the valley. They were ready to pounce on any being that was able to bypass Isa’s baleful aura.

The valley was situated in Green highlands on Demon continent. The Demon continent as the name suggests was a continent under the control of Demon race. This continent was one of the forbidden zones for human factions. A human entering the demon continent would have to be prepared to be attacked without reserve by all the Demon factions of demon continent. Even immortal saint realm martial artists might lose their life here within a few hours of entering it.

The Green highlands was situated on the eastern side of the demon continent and was within the territory of Twilight Demon Kingdom, one of the many demon factions of Grandura. It was also one of the strongest demon factions. Since the Baleful aura of Isa had spread over the entire valley it was bound to attract the attention of the Twilight demon kingdom soon or later. The Green Highlands was well known on Grandura as it had a large number of high grade treasure lands of varying attributes spread across it which produced a large number of Heavenly treasures, Devil treasures, Demonic treasures and so on. So, its importance could be understood for the Twilight Demon Kingdom due to which it was always under surveillance. So, it didn’t take long for the demon soldiers responsible for guarding the Green highlands to find about the oddity in the valley as it was shrouded in Red color baleful aura which was visible from far away. They quickly reported it to the higher ups of the Twilight Demon Kingdom as they were unable to enter the valley to investigate the source of this baleful aura. Isa’s baleful aura would instantly affect them and if anyone that stayed within it for more than a minute or two, he or she would turn retard. Any prolonged exposure would lead to death.

This fact alarmed the higher ups of the Twilight Demon Kingdom as they were unable to fathom the reason behind the red baleful aura. They sent a number of immortal saint realm demons to investigate the valley but none was able to enter it. They suffered in a manner similar to the demon soldiers that had tried to investigate the valley previously. This made the immortal saint realm demons that had come to investigate the red baleful aura to look at the red baleful aura with a fear as well as curiosity.

“What is the source of this baleful aura?” one of the immortal saint realm demon couldn’t help but ask. He was a Thousand eye demon. The members of this demon species literally had one thousand eyes which were spready across their entire bodies. This made the Thousand eye demon extremely ugly for the perspective of a human being. These eyes were used for casting illusions to trap the minds of their enemies, attacking the souls of their enemies and so on. The Thousand eye demon was around eight feet tall and its numerous eyes were green in color.

“Ancestor from the main branch, will be coming to take a look. I don’t think that anyone except for him could enter the valley to investigate the valley,” Another demon replied as she looked at the baleful aura that covered the valley intently. She was a Redback demon and looked no different from a regular human except for her height being eight feet and the color of her skin being fiery red.

Redback demons were fire attribute demons and possessed terrifying innate abilities which were highly destructive. She one of the many princesses of the Twilight Demon Kingdom. Her name was Sabrina. All the immortal saint realm demons couldn’t help but agree with her.

“Grandma Shafna, what do you think is going on inside?” Sabrina asked another redback demon who was standing by her side. She could tell that her Grandma Shafna had something going on in her mind from her facial expression.

“If I am not wrong then there is a very high chance that this baleful aura belongs to an extremely evil being that has devoured the lives of countless other creatures,” Shafna said with a grave expression.

“What??” Everyone said in unison as they were unable to fathom how a living being could possess such a dangerous baleful aura. They had initially thought that a demonic treasure was birthed within the valley but hearing Shafna made their mind go numb from fear.

“Let’s hope that ancestor is able to deal with that being otherwise we all are doomed if that being decides to make a move against us,” Shafna further stated which made everyone’s expression turn grim.

“Grandma, how did you come to this conclusion?” Sabrina couldn’t help but ask.

“I am sure that everyone has heard the stories of Lucas, the Oblivion Demon?” Shafna asked with a tense look but her question made everyone shocked for some time before a fearful expression appeared on their face.

The Oblivion demon was a special kind of Demon of Thunder attribute and Death attribute. All demons irrespective of their species are capable of evolving into Oblivion Demon. A demon will have to slaughter countless other demons and devour their souls and blood in order to evolve into Oblivion Demon. The process of evolving into an Oblivion Demon was extremely long and painful one. A demon would feel heart wrenching pain every time it devoured the soul and blood of other demons until the day it evolves into Oblivion Demon. They had to feel this pain for tens of millions of time before they could evolve into Oblivion Demon.

Most demons that try to evolve into Oblivion Demon either commit suicide due to the extreme pain that they have suffer after devouring a fellow demon or just give up after experience the pain once or twice. Only the demons that possess extremely solid will and determination can evolve into Oblivion Demon. The solid will and determination required by a demon to evolve into Oblivion Demon can only stem from extremely strong feelings like vengeance or anything similar. All this made sure that most demons that try to evolve into Oblivion Demon end up being unsuccessful.

The demons that embarked on the path of the Oblivion Demon were a common enemy of the entire Demon race. Such demons were hated by the entire demon race. It is said that the strength of an Oblivion Demon could easily rival an Asura but no one knew whether it was true or false.

“Is there a Demon trying to evolve into Oblivion Demon inside the valley?” Someone couldn’t help but ask.

“I am not sure but it’s just my hunch. This baleful aura has a lot of similarities to the baleful aura of Lucas,” Shafna said with a scared expression.

The stories of Lucas were told to all children of the demon race in detail on Grandura. Everything about him was told so that no one ever dared to evolve into an Oblivion demon. Lucas wasn’t able to live long after evolving into Oblivion demon as he was slaughtered by the Demons from the main branches of different Demon factions of Grandura. The body of Lucas was shredded into countless pieces and his soul was also destroyed which made sure that it ceased to exist.

“Let ancestor have a look at it. We will come to known about it soon,” Sabrina suggested. Everyone readily agreed as they spread around the valley to keep a watch on the valley from all sides. They even called some reinforcement to make sure that the being inside the valley was unable to escape.

Isa who was fully engrossed in advancing its cultivation level to early celestial realm had no idea that he was already attracting this much attention. The undead creatures under his control were already taking positions for any probable intrusions as they detected the number of beings outside the valley increase with the passage of time.

Ryan, on the other hand, had already arrived in front of the martial skill pavilion. The martial skill pavilion of Heavenly city contained the non-core martial skills of the heaven sundering family clan. A copy of these martial skills could be purchased by anyone as long as he or she had enough martial tokens and was capable of practicing them. The martial tokens were issued by the administrative department of the heaven sundering family clan in exchange of elemental stones. The cost of one martial token was twenty high grade elemental stones of primary attribute.

Ryan had previously received five hundred martial tokens from his mother which were sufficient for him to purchase an avatar martial skill from the martial skill pavilion. Avatar martial skills were gradeless meaning that it could be used by both mortal realm martial artists as well as immortal realm martial artists.

The Martial skill pavilion looked quite similar to public libraries from Ryan’s previous world. It had five floors and was spread over an area of 1000 hectare.

The ground floor of the martial skill pavilion was not at all crowded and had only a few people in it. The ground floor had hundreds of book shelves lined in neat order. The martial skills here were low grade mortal martial skill and mid-grade mortal martial skill. Ryan didn’t waste any time and immediately approached the information desk of the martial skill pavilion which was at some distance from the entrance.

The information desk was being manned by an elderly man. There were quite a number of people standing in queue at the information desk. Ryan joined the queue and waited patiently for his turn to come in order to ask the old man at the counter about the avatar martial skills. The martial skill pavilion had thousands of books so Ryan was certain that without the help of this old man he would have a tough time finding what he was looking for. This was the reason why everyone first came to the old man before going anywhere else in the martial skill pavilion. This was the reason why a number of people had joined the queue after Ryan.

It didn’t take long for Ryan to come in the front of the queue.

“Senior, where can I find avatar martial skills?” Ryan asked in an extremely respectful manner the elderly man. The elderly man gave Ryan an odd look after hearing his query as normally teenagers would never bother about avatar martial skills as they lack the ability to collect the large number of heavenly treasure required to create them. Generally, a martial artist would be a few hundred years old before he would think of creating an avatar and it might take another few hundred years or more to collect all the heavenly treasures required to create his or her avatar.

“I just wish to prepare in advance who knows that I might stumble upon a creation heavenly treasure inside the ancient legacy land,” Ryan said with a cheeky smile on his face. His words made a smile appear on the elder man’s face and the people that were standing behind Ryan had a mocking expression which Ryan but naturally ignored.

“Good decision. Go to second floor and ask one of the caretakers to guide you to the bookshelf that contains avatar martial skill manuals,” The elderly man replied while still maintaining a smile on his face.

“Thanks senior,” Ryan said as he headed straight towards the second floor via the staircase leading to it. The setting of the first floor and second floor were exactly similar to the ground floor. They too had hundreds of book shelves lined in neat order. Each floor had thousands of martial skill manuals that were placed in those book shelves. The first floor had mid-grade mortal martial skill manuals while the second floor had high grade mortal martial skill manuals. Many of the martial skill manuals in the martial skill pavilion were the creations of the members of the Heaven Sundering family clan that had accumulated over time but there were also a number of martial skills that belonged to factions that were destroyed by the Heaven Sundering family clan.

Ryan approached one of the caretakers on the second floor of the martial skill pavilion. The caretaker was a middle-aged woman. She like other caretakers of the martial skill pavilion were official of the administrative department of the Heaven Sundering family clan.

“Hello senior, I trying to find Avatar martial skills,” Ryan asked in a polite manner to her.

“Follow me,” The caretaker said in an emotionless voice. Ryan nodded his head as he followed her. She and Ryan arrived at a book shelve that was placed in the corner most area of the second floor. The book shelve was completely packed with books.

“You will find what you are searching for here,” The caretaker said as she left. Ryan looked at the book shelf for some time before he started to check the description of the martial skill manuals one after another. It would take quite a few hours before Ryan was able to go through the description of each and every avatar martial skill manual in the book shelf.

The area around the valley where Isa was busy advancing his cultivation level to early celestial elite realm had become extremely chaotic as the ancestor of the main branch of the twilight demon kingdom had already arrived some time ago. He had already attempted to enter the valley once but his mind was severely affected by the red baleful aura right after entering the valley due to which he was unable to go deep into the valley. He quickly contacted the main branch of twilight demon kingdom using his Galactic mental message transmission orb and informed them about the baleful aura that shrouded the valley.