A Demon's Journey

The aftermath of that last bolt of Heavenly TribulationI striking Azaroth's body injured his body as well his spirit.

Sophie reached the location and soon carried him to the mansion.

Azaroth's retainers were stunned when they had seen that last bolt of lightning. And from what they saw, it appeared that Azaroth's attack had lost power.

Noah clenched his fists as he had attacked that Heavenly Tribulations with his Sword Qi but it didn't help at all. His Sword Qi was destroyed without damaging that bolt of thunder.

They all dashed towards Azaroth's position. This time, Laura noticed that Azaroth wasn't asking them to stay back.

Thus, all of them ran at their quickest pace.

But once they reached the location, they saw a woman carrying Azaroth away. In the direction of the mansion.

Laura, Yrellea, Ralph, and Tiana were confused. They didn't know this woman. Why was she carrying Azaroth away?

They were about to ask her this very question.

But before they could take a single step forward, Noah spoke, "Don't go. This is the woman I was talking about earlier. She is the boss's lover. Also, Boss ordered us to make sure not to meet her."

Laura and Yrellea didn't appear to be convinced. Yrellea even spoke out, "But…"

"No. I am more worried about Boss than any of you. But we can't disobey his orders!" Noah spoke with a frustrated look.

"…Also, before she can harm Boss, I will kill her with my Sword Qi," Noah replied, ending all arguments against him.

Sophie brought Azaroth to his mansion where she placed him on his bed. She noticed that his complexion was quite pale.

The Heavenly Tribulation Lightning she had witnessed just struck his body. It was natural for him to be unconscious.

But she didn't understand why the Heavenly Tribulation would strike Azaroth.

It was well known that the Heavenly Tribulations would only strike those breaking through to the 7 Star Rank or the heretics who had committed evil deeds.

It didn't seem as if Azaroth was a heretic so what could be the reason?

She then fixed her gaze on Azaroth's little bird. It was, of course, Zena. Sophie had placed Zena on the table, where she was still wriggling about.

Sophie could sense that Zena was merely at the 2 Star Rank. There was no chance for her to be the one to summon that Heavenly tribulation.

But then she was back to square one.

Just who had summoned that Heavenly Tribulation?

'Don't tell me it's because he is a hybrid?'

Once she began thinking in this direction, she felt as if this theory made a lot of sense.

Sophie's guess was completely incorrect. However, in the Sinyalian Kingdom, where there were few celestials or hybrids, no one could claim with certainty that Azaroth's status as a hybrid wasn't the cause of the Heavenly Tribulation.

Sophie went and asked the guards to bring the herbs from their storage.

Azaroth did store a lot of them in the storage as he didn't want to place all of them in a single place.

However, Sophie realized that the guards had no knowledge about the herbs and wouldn't be able to choose them.

She chose to join the guards in selecting the herbs. Even if she wasn't particularly gifted in the subject of alchemy, she had dabbled in it and at the very least understood what herbs to employ when the body was engulfed in Lightning Ardor.

A few moments later, she brought some Earth Elemental Herbs and placed them around Azaroth's body.

The Lightning within Azaroth's body was attracted to these Earth Elemental Herbs before being nullified.

Through this method, Sophie had dealt with the Lightning in Azaroth's body. However, the most dangerous thing about this Heavenly Tribulation wasn't lightning. It was the Law of Destruction.

Normally, an expert would be subjected to the Heavenly Tribulation to strengthen his body. Typically, the Law of Destruction would be present in the Heavenly Tribulation of the warriors who are breaking through to the 8 Star Rank.

But, in Azaroth's case, he had merely broken through to the 5 Star Rank yet the Heavenly Tribulation he summoned possessed the Law of Destruction.

It was clear that the Heavens sought to destroy him.

Currently, even though Azaroth's body was asleep, his spirit was still awake.

His consciousness was flooded by the reddish power of destruction and he was using his Spirit to destroy it.

Every time Azaroth's spirit came in contact with this Power of Destruction, it would be destroyed, taking along the Law of the Destruction with it.

Even Azaroth was anxious since he didn't possess any Law that could deal with the Power of Destruction.

He had already used the Blood Law but it was effortlessly destroyed.

Currently, Azaroth's greatest priority was to continue to cultivate and reach the 5 Star Rank.

Because of the Heavenly Tribulation, his cultivation had slowed down immensely. Thus, he hadn't condensed a solid core.

But still, his Heavenly Demon Meditation Technique was active. While nearly Azaroth's entire body was dealing with this Heavenly Tribulation's after effects, only a small part was working on cultivating his Ardor.

The thing that frustrated Azaroth, even more, was that he couldn't actively accelerate his speed of cultivation. If he could do that, then the situation wouldn't be as bad as it currently was.

He was so helpless in this situation that he could only wait.

But Azaroth was also not just going to waste his time and opportunity. He concentrated on the great treasure ahead of him and began to think deeply about it.

Yes, Azaroth was trying to gain insight into the Law of Destruction!

This could be considered overreaching himself for merely a 5 Star Warrior but Azaroth was different.

Even though his body was that of a 5 Star Warrior, his spirit was still of a Demon God.

His observation power and comprehension talent were still the same as before.

~~

After 3 days, Azaroth finally opened his eyes.

He was slightly dissatisfied as he wasn't able to comprehend the Law of Destruction. Even though he had expected it but it didn't prevent him from getting disappointed.

The Law of Destruction would have massively helped him against his enemies. But he also knew that if the Law of Destruction was slightly more powerful then he would have lost his life.

'I should be successful in comprehending a part of it if I get another opportunity.'

Azaroth looked around and noticed he was in his room. He concluded that it was probably Sophie who brought him here.

Azaroth tried to sense his surroundings and was stunned as he felt his sensing range increase greatly.

In fact, he was sure that he could sense nearly 10 times the distance than before.

Moreover, even though his range had increased, he could sense the area in even more depth.

Azaroth then looked into his Energy Center and there, he saw an Azure Core just a little larger than a cricket ball revolving quickly.

He understood that he had broken through to the 5 Star Rank.

Azaroth returned back to his consciousness and stood up.

He looked at the bed and noticed multiple herbs on his bed. They had lost their luster.

'I see… These are the herbs that absorbed the extra lightning from my body.'

Although the Law of Destruction was the most dangerous to Azaroth, removing the Lightning from his body was also quite important. If not, his body would have been trying to remove the Lightning Ardor instead of working on his cultivation.

If that occurred, he would have remained unconscious for an even longer period. Or maybe the combination of the Law of Destruction and Lightning Ardor would have killed him.

Soon, Azaroth went out to eat something. He was quite hungry.

He went to the dining hall where the guards saw him and greeted him respectfully. He ordered some cooks to bring food for him.

Meanwhile, Sophie was informed about the fact that Azaroth had recovered and was in the dining hall.

She immediately dashed towards the dining hall to see him.

The two soon met in the dining hall where Azaroth was eating his food peacefully.

He noticed her and spoke, "…Come, join me."

Sophie spoke with an emotional voice, "You finally woke up. I thought that the Heavenly Tribulation had killed you."

Azaroth smirked and replied, "The Heavenly Tribulation will need to try harder to kill me. I haven't lived my life to the fullest yet."

Sophie spoke solemnly though, "Don't joke about it. Or else, the Heavenly Tribulation might hit you again."

Azaroth shrugged in response, "The Heavens shouldn't care about such small things."

He continued on to eat his food while Sophie took a seat near him. The two remained silent as Azaroth ate his food while Sophie observed him.

Just as Sophie opened her mouth to say something, Azaroth spoke out, "I know what you want to ask. But I have no idea why the Heavenly Tribulation would strike me. Perhaps it was because of my status as a hybrid."

Azaroth was quite nonchalant as he took another bite of the food.

"…You have to be careful next time. You should have constructed arrays to protect yourself." Sophie spoke worriedly.

"I know. This was a miss on my part. I never expected that Heavens would throw their lightning at me just for breaking through to the 5 Star Rank. Someone has to tell them that I am breaking through to the 5 Star Rank, not the 7 Star Rank."

Azaroth appeared quite angry.

Sophie chuckled and soon replied, "Next time, I will construct a few arrays that would protect you from the Heavenly Lightning."

Azaroth looked at her solemnly, "The next time, it will be Heavenly Lightning to prevent me from breaking through to the 6 Star Rank. Using 5 Star Rank Arrays to protect me from that Heavenly Tribulation would be futile."

"…I know, that's why I planned to leave after you have recovered. I need to return and get back to studying arrays. Especially the defensive arrays. By the time you can reach the peak of 6 Star Rank, I should be able to create 6 Star Ranked Arrays." Sophie confidently told Azaroth.

Azaroth stopped eating and stared at her grimly, "I see…"

"Once everything settles down here, I will come to the capital to meet you," Azaroth told her with an earnest look.