Reaper of the Martial World

Book 4: Chapter 13: Gather

The eyes of the demon generals and Ri couldn’t help but widen. What was he doing?!

“Dyon…” Ri wanted to reach out and stop him, but a demon general named Thadius gently pulled her back.

“Mistress Sacharro, the successor isn’t stupid. He must be doing this for a reason.”

Ri could only nod and pull back, trying to focus her attention on nosy incomers as opposed to her worry.

The truth was that they could all tell that Dyon’s cultivation hadn’t even stepped into the essence gathering realm yet. And, another thing that was clear was that he wasn’t circulating an energy cultivation technique. This all meant that whatever was pulling saint energy to Dyon, had nothing to do with a cultivation deviation. It was a phenomenon that none of them had seen before, and it was likely that even the successor hadn’t planned for this.

However, this was only becoming a bigger and bigger problem.

Dyon’s break through was sending waves through the entire city and there were very few who weren’t doing their utmost to find out just what was going on.

Breakthroughs into the saint realm were rare enough. But, a break through done out in the open? No one could understand how this cultivator hadn’t been prepared for this. And considering how powerful the breakthrough was, it didn’t seem like this was the type of cultivator to make such mistakes.

In a normal setting, a breakthrough into the saint realm would not only be highly guarded, but it would also involve copious amounts of array formations in an attempt to temper the impact and reduce the amount who sensed it. Why? Because breakthroughs were an incredibly sensitive time period…

The only question that was left was why Dyon wasn’t prepared. The simply answer was that he just didn’t know.

For one, he had seen the boost in his soul as separate from himself, instead of the part of him that it was. So, instead of being aware that he was breaking into the saint stage, he assumed that he was still in the essence gathering soul stages. This couldn’t be blamed on Dyon. Afterall, a perfect innate aurora was the stuff of legends. And a soul talent mighty enough to allow a 15, soon to be 16, year old to host a saint soul was too fanciful even for fiction. To anyone else, the thought of hosting anything even remotely similar to sainthood should take hundreds of years. And, that number was still counted in decade amounts even for the best of geniuses.

And yet… Dyon had only cultivated for less than a year if one ignores the times he was incapacitated!

Then there was the fact that Dyon simply hadn’t been aware of what it took for his soul to mend itself. To say his energy cultivation talent was poor before he met his grand teacher would have been an understatement… The more accurate comment would be that his energy cultivation was completely non-existent – even to the point where he himself couldn’t tell that he had no meridians to speak of.

So, knowing that, how would Dyon have sensed the essence energy his soul was taking in to mend itself? He didn’t know his soul needed energy because he couldn’t sense it. There was no way for him to grasp exactly what was going on. But, now that the seal on his energy cultivation was gone, it was suddenly very clear to him exactly what happened when his soul reached a new stage…

Another roar tore through Dyon’s throat as patches of his skin burst apart. Streaks of blood dripped down Dyon’s torso as his body seemed to expand to another size. However… This didn’t seem to be a tear associated with his soul burst from him. Just what was going on?

The first to arrive on the scene were members of the Cavositas God Clan. Chaos Arena was a mere few hundred meters from this ‘inn’ because Dyon had felt it was best to get Eli and RI treated as quickly as possible. But, it seemed that that decision had come back to bite him.

The tiles of the inn’s roof shattered and burst, flinging off into the air and down toward shrieking civilians. Dyon tried his best to aim his surge of energy upward, but there was only so much control to be had in a situation like this.

In the air, the receptionist stood behind the young masters that had dictated his actions just a few days ago… Ace and his elder brother Voron Cavositas. But, they weren’t alone. Vidar and Elof Ragnor were both there as well. It was clear that the four of them had coordinated to conspire again Dyon and Ri, and although they had failed, it seemed that they had just found a new opportunity.

From their appearances, it was clear that they were still very much hobbled from the campaign, but not so much that they wouldn’t be in peak health within the few weeks left to the tournament.

“Livy.” Voron Cavositas spoke out.

“Yes, young master?”

“What exactly is going on here? Is that who I think it is? And if so, how is this possible?”

Although Voron could tell that this person was likely Dyon, especially by Ri’s nervous nearby figure, he couldn’t wrap his head around just what was going on. Was this truly cultivation deviation? But, what kind of deviation called for such a large influx of saint energy? At most the saint energy Dyon had foolishly absorbed would have already killed him, there was no need for nature to practically act as a funnel for Dyon.

The receptionist, Livy, thought much the same thing. He couldn’t bring himself to believe anything close to what the truth was. Just a few days ago he had been lecturing Dyon on what a saint was. There was no way that Dyon would now be becoming a saint. It didn’t make sense.

“It’s as you think young master. He’s simply an idiot trying to touch a cultivation realm he was never meant to.”

Elof and Ace couldn’t help but snicker at the Livy’s response. They had assumed much the same thing, they had no clue that the receptionist had only said this to make himself feel better. But, Voron and Vidar knew different. So, they took their next step with caution.

“Bring a few more saint level experts, Livy. We’re going to detain him for causing a public disturbance. His immaturity and quite frankly irresponsible cultivation is causing casualties among our citizens and we can’t allow that.”

A devious grin spread on Livy’s features as he disappeared in a flash. He hadn’t been paying attention to why his young master seemed to think more saints were needed. But, if he had, he would have noticed ten white haired experts bearing down on Arena City…

No. The term expert didn’t suffice. These ten were demons.

Dyon’s demon generals had immediately picked up on the appearance of the Cavositas and Ragnor clansmen, but, they had ignored them. Their top priority was to stay centered around Dyon, lest others take this opportunity to do him harm.

The dark clouds continued to roll in the skies, still viciously spinning around Dyon’s location. Mass earthquakes tore through the city, shaking the very foundation of everything that had been built. Even the Belmont family natural moat in the distance began to roll as waves threatened to cause large scale tsunamis to topple everything in existence.

And yet, right at the center, there was a boy a mere fifteen years of age.

There was a reason so few focused on soul cultivation.

The truth was that no one had a clue about how much the soul impacted strength. Because in 100% of cases, until Dyon’s anomaly, soul strength was lower than energy or body cultivation, the soul always acted as a supplementary powerup.

The Saeclum clan, the auxiliary clan of the Ragnor God Clan, used their soul as a power source for divination because of its innate connection with the world – a connection seen much easier with the soul as opposed to the body. They also used it to attack, but this attack took time and was very susceptible to damaging the user if you misjudged who you were facing. This was why Dyon had the habit of hiding his soul strength from very long ago.

But then, there were clans like the Elvin Kingdom families, or the Celestial Deer Sect, that made use manifestations. In fact, manifestations might be rare in this universe, mostly because it was a technique kept for top flight clans and sects in the past, but in other universes, having a manifestation was a must.

However, the question still remained… Just how much more powerful did you soul make you? Why was it that Dyon’s soul had been able to reach the peak of the essence gathering stages, or the 6^th stage, and yet he could only fight on par with peak meridian formation experts at that time?

To many, the answer to this was that the soul was weak. In fact, many saw the soul’s most useful function as a basis for learning wills and mastering formations and alchemy. But, although these things were important, was that really all there was to a soul? Why was it that despite Dyon’s soul being so powerful, he was still so restricted in his ability?

These were answers even Dyon himself didn’t know. And his grand teacher likely didn’t know as well… After all, just what was the use in using the soul in any other way? No one had the talent Dyon did to make it worth it… He was blazing an unknown path and that path was already trying to kill him.

Dyon grit his teeth, focusing himself as he absorbed more and more saint energy. He wouldn’t allow himself to give in. ‘This has to work!’

Even as Livy left to do Voron’s bidding, more and more people began converging on Dyon.

Members of the Niveus Sect appeared with Evelyn and a very old lady. She stood at maybe five feet tall and was hunched over while tightly gripping a white oak cane. Despite her age, Evelyn didn’t help her at all as they walked through the skies, it seemed the old lady was still brimming with youth.

“Matriarch… Just, what is going on?”

The old lady didn’t respond to Evelyn’s question, instead deciding to ask one of her own. “Do you recognize this boy?”

Evelyn nodded, “He is the one who took Little Sister Delia away.”

A flash of anger appeared on the old woman’s features, “So he’s the one who disrespected the Niveus Sect? Good. Let his cultivation run awry. Also, find that little wench. Ungrateful child.” The sinister flash disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving behind an unassuming old lady.

Soon, miscellaneous clans began to gather too. Even the Ragnor Clan auxiliary clans that had once fought against Dyon years ago came.

In the distance, a very familiar face stood. A girl with long brunette hair and red ruby eyes stood along side many other women with the same features. However, it seemed like many of them had misshapen noses, due in thanks to the techniques they practiced.

This girl was known to Dyon as simply Ipsum. But, she was a member of the Ipsum auxiliary clan for the Ragnor and had been among the eleven that fought Dyon at the Focus Academy Legacy World Opening. That said, she held a burning hatred for Dyon that couldn’t be compared to the others… On that day, she had lost the love of her life and her future husband to be. And in her eyes, it was all Dyon’s fault.

“Big Sister, he has to die.” Ipsum trembled, staring daggers at Dyon’s familiar face. Although she got a sick pleasure in watching his features twist in pain and his skin and bones crack under pressure, this wasn’t enough to her.

“Little Rose, there’s nothing to worry about.” Rose’s big sister wrapped her arms around her little sister. She was a genius of their clan and had long since mastered their technique to perfection, so, her nose was in a perfect state. “Even if he should survive this, his death is all but assured.”

Rose nodded, tears brimming at the edge of her eyes as she remembered the death of Saeclum. Ivan Saeclum. Once a genius, but now nothing but a corpse in the ground. But, his and Rose’s revenge was soon to come.

Iris Ipsum. She hadn’t interacted with Dyon in the gates because she had been away on Planet Naiad like many other peak essence gathering geniuses – including many elves. Planet Naiad was home to the Clyte Royal God Clan and the Kami God Clan. Their relationship with Earth was the strongest which was why the Kami had many branch families here, and also how Head Patia-Neva, Delia’s father, had come here from his home – Planet Naiad.

In fact, this was the very same planet Madeleine had been sent to by her master.

But, this wasn’t going to be a homecoming for Dyon’s wife… No. Iris Ipsum wanted nothing more than to tear Dyon apart for hurting her little sister. And her rank within the top 20, gave her the cache to dare to.

Top 20 on the cumulative rankings. Just what did it mean to be there? …

It meant being nothing short of a top 4 expert of your planet.  

The vortex of clouds only spun faster and faster as time went on. But, maybe what was more ridiculous was that Dyon had taken out even more saint stones! No one understood what he was doing, it was as though he was purposefully trying to make the situation worse.

Eventually, even the geniuses of the other planets arrived. When they saw who was causing the commotion, they couldn’t help but be surprised.

Eboni chuckled to herself, “He can’t possibly be this much of an idiot, can he? Cultivation deviation for something so stupid as absorbing saint energy too early? And look at him, absorbing even more as though that would help.”

Even with Ode and Eboni chuckled to themselves, the true geniuses were focused on something else entirely.

For one, they could immediately tell that this influx of saint energy wasn’t for energy cultivation. The feel was completely different. Secondly, although their souls hadn’t been powerful enough to accurately gauge Dyon’s soul strength when he fully released it at the Chaos Arena, when Dyon had done that, they felt a pressure like nothing they had ever felt from someone so close to them an age… A pressure that seemed only a sliver away from a break-through just like this one…

Ulu stood in the skies along with her members of Planet Nix, quite nervous. If Dyon died, would she really have to be barren for the rest of her life? Her whole plot rested on his survival and her making use of him as her slave. No matter how much she liked watching Dyon suffer, she was smart enough to know that he was more useful to her alive than not.

But then, she calmed herself. She could always use the guise of Dyon making her barren to save him, and then use the fact that he’s the only one that can cure her as the excuse for why she did so. In that case, others might even help her enslave him, making everything all the easier on her.

While everyone was speculating about just what was going on, there was a group of high-level soul specialists that were pulling their hair out watching the current events. Although others might not be aware of what was going on, they were. In fact, there was one among them that had undergone this exact thing, albeit at a much older age.

The Head of the Guild Headquarters. First Stage Celestial Expert. And the only Grandmaster Alchemist in this entire universe. Connery Sapientia.

He wasn’t born of a Royal God Clan or even a God Clan. In fact, the clan he was born into was an unknown and he hadn’t had a name until he named himself at twelve years old. However, what he did have was a soul talent that was among the best in this universe and the luck to have stumbled into a legacy world with a peak heaven soul cultivation technique…

Later in his life, he joined the Sapientia. By allowing them to make use of his talent, he gained near unlimited resources to improve and strengthen himself. As such, he had worked his way to being the head of not only the guild headquarters, but also the Earth branch of the Sapientia God Clan.

“This doesn’t make any sense…” Connery Sapientia was a man with mostly bold black hair, but, streaking of grey had begun adding color to his features. He was tall, almost 2.5 meters tall in fact, and wore long dark red robes. In his whole life, he had never seen such a scene, and it only made it worse that he knew exactly what was happening.

“It has to be him… It can’t be anyone else…”

The members of the guilds around Connery looked at him in confusion, but all they got was the fiery light in his golden eyes lit.

“H- Head Sapientia. We’ve gotten news that first-in-line genius Madeleine Sapientia will be arriving by the teleportation station at the Sapientia Main Branch soon. We can’t wait here or else we’ll be late.”

Connery completely ignored this. He was the Head of the clan, he had no real obligation to attend the welcoming of a genius. He had already shifted his schedule once around this. It wasn’t his fault that Madeleine was late and didn’t arrive on the predetermined date.

Seeing the Head’s eyes remained trained on Dyon’s figure, the surrounding Sapientia elders could only sigh. Whenever their leader got engrossed in something, it was unlikely that he was forget it until he fully satisfied.

Connery waved his hand, “Let Ester handle the greeting. Madeleine doesn’t care for such things.” Not thinking twice about pushing the responsibility onto Madeleine’s master.

The faces of the elders couldn’t help but twist at this statement. This was the same Connery Sapientia that had run Madeleine away from the main branch because of her loss in talent, and now he was treating her as though he knew her like the back of his hand. There was something inherently off about his demeanor.

From a young age, Connery had had it ingrained within him that only talent mattered. He had only been able to work his way up because his talent had been so overwhelming, so, when Madeleine had ceased being useful, he had tossed her away just as easily. But, he also didn’t think twice about accepting her back with open arms. That was just the kind of person he was. Since he had been treated like a tool, that was just how he saw the world.

In all of this wildness spinning around Dyon, he couldn’t spare a single ounce of attention toward it.

His skin continued to split and bleed under the strain. But, something was changing.

A demonic aura was dripping from Dyon. The color was such a rich red and gold that it was too real and mercurial to label a simple aura anymore.

The clouds in the sky began to shift, being directly affected by this aura.

Red painted the clouds, even the lightning striking down seemed to be drenched in blood.

That was right… Dyon solution was something he had never been able to do before. Without the ability to energy cultivate, Dyon had no control over such energies and they were thus of little use to him. But, now? With his energy cultivation fully restored? Dyon had thought of a crazy idea.

You could use saint energy to energy cultivate. You could use saint energy to soul cultivate. So… Why not use saint energy to body cultivate?