Chapter 48: Worlds

What do you know about Worlds?

The Ancient Supreme had asked him this question.

Now, he realized that he knew almost nothing.

He couldn’t have given her any worthy answer.

His eyes didn’t stray from the finger bone in front of him.

He kept staring at it.

An apparition slowly rose from it.

It settled into a form he recognized.

The form of a dragon.

It looked exactly as it was depicted in those storybooks.

A four-legged scaled creature with a long neck, two wings and a tail.

It became real with every moment that passed.

Until it finished forming.

Real as could be.

Its aura radiated everywhere.

It wasn’t as large as Neo thought it would be.

Its height barely reached his.

But its body was stretched across a few feet.

It could still be considered large.

The aura that radiated from it matched Neo’s.

They were of the same rank and cultivation level.

The golden slits of the dragon’s eyes stated into Neo’s eyes.

Its snout formed into a grin.

Its mouth opened, as it breathed out.

It was a breath of fire.

Neo never expected this.

But still, if this place had thought him one thing.

It was to be always cautious, and prepared for any and all surprises.

His sword flashed once, twice.

This wasn’t ordinary fire.

Neo found this out the hard way.

The dragon’s attack wasn’t easy to disperse.

That was just its probing move.

Its tail flashed.

Faster than Neo could perceive.

His sword flashed again and again, without rest.

What had looked like one strike was actually more than that.

Twenty strikes.

That was how many times that one tail had struck him.

Neo staggered.

The dragon didn’t attack again.

It waited. Patiently.

Neo didn’t know if it was toying with him.

The moment he regained his balance, the dragon attacked again.

Neo matched its speed now, but at great cost to his essence.

His essence depleted at a rapid pace.

There was no helping it.

If every battle he had been in before was a tutorial.

This one was the real deal.

Was this how powerful dragons really were.

Or had the Ancient Supreme buffed this one to insane levels?

Its scales were harder than armor.

Neo had tried to end the fight as soon as he could.

He tried to cut into the dragon’s body, but its scale resisted every attempt.

The lightning fast strikes also prevented Neo from making any of the more powerful moves that could end this fight in a single strike.

These kind of moves required some time to prepare.

All he could do was the next best thing.

Every move he had been making since he stopped caring about his essence consumption had been leaving a subtle mark on the dragon’s body.

When it triggered...

Neo disengaged from the dragon.

He sheathed his sword and pulled off a quick retreat.

The dragon seemed surprised.

It watched Neo.

Expecting him to try making some move.

But all he did was retreat.

It snorted.

Its wings spread.

It shot into the air.

It was going to turn this being into a human torch.

It would show him why the dragons were noble beasts.

Lords of the skies.

It prepared its breath.

As it exhaled.

All that came out was smoke.

The dragon dissipated into ash.

It had combusted from the inside.

Neo took a deep breath.

The attack had been successful.

It had triggered the moment the dragon was about to breathe out fire.

He felt the meagre essence that remained in his body.

His attention was on his surroundings.

But nothing jumped out of the shadows.

It seemed the Ancient Supreme wasn’t so heartless.

He enjoyed this moment of respite.

Devour was growling with elation.

The dragon was like a tonic to it.

A supreme one.

Neo felt his cultivation grow from the dragon he just killed.

It was barely better than what he got after killing a strange creature.

He grimaced.

The Ancient Supreme was still indeed her noble, miserly self.

But he might just be blaming the wrong person.

Devour was the one actually granting the cultivation.

The recovered essence was barely better.

A hand touched his neck.

He startled.

His body turned, sword already in hand.

He had completed the move, when he realized what he just did.

The whole thing had been instinctive.

His sword rested on the Ancient Supreme’s neck.

He froze.

It wasn’t because she had used some supreme technique to freeze his being.

No.

It was because Neo realized the enormity of what he just did.

He, an F-Rank cultivator. The lowest rank there was.

Had placed his sword to a supreme’s neck.

It was surreal.

Very much unbelievable.

The difference in their rank was beyond enormous.

He should be scared, but all he did was freeze.

Not in fear.

But in his disbelief of the entire situation.

She gently pushed the sword aside.

She wasn’t angry.

A smile graced her lips.

"I didn’t know you hated me this much."

Her eyes had tears almost falling.

"Of course not, supreme."

Neo sheathed his sword.

He thought of a way to shift the topic.

If he let her go on, only the heavens know what she would do next.

"Supreme, that was a dragon?"

The Ancient Supreme nodded.

"That was a dragon. Albeit, not a real one, but that’s exactly how one is."

That thing had almost killed him.

Were all dragons that strong?

"So, there are animals that can cultivate?"

"Beasts."

The Ancient Supreme corrected him.

"Dragons and all creatures like them that can cultivate are called Beaats."

Neo thought back to the vision he had seen the first time he met the Ancient Supreme.

The fox-like features that had appeared on her.

Was she also a-

"No, I am not."

She was doing it again.

Reading his thoughts with no concern for what he thought about it.

"I already told you. It is nothing that invasive."

Neo gave up.

The weak had no say before the strong.

"The strength of the dragon you just fought now was based on the very peak of your level."

Neo felt that made sense.

If all dragons were that strong?

He didn’t dare continue with that thought.

"Of course, you could have easily defeated it if you used your bloodline."

Neo knew that was true.

If Devour had provided him with the endless essence it used to.

It would have been an easy fight.

The Ancient Supreme shook her head.

She seemed to have meant something else with those words.

"Dragons are from the Dragon World of the Beast Domain. Just like your Immortal World, the Dragon World is also a True World."

True World?

Neo wondered what she meant by a True World.

A World capable of nurturing immortal rank beings?

"A True World is capable of nurturing immortal rank beings among many other things. Do you have any idea what a Domain is?"

Neo shook his head.

He could guess, but it was still best to learn the fact.

"The Immortal World and the Demon World are in a place called the Immortal and Demon Domain."

The two Worlds had their names placed side by side?

"The two Worlds are the mightiest presence in this Domain. Everything in this Domain, from the resources that form, to the quality of the essence, to the way everyone cultivates, and the type of talents that are born. Everything follows the path of the Demon World and the Immortal World."