Deep within the asteroid sea, the fabric of reality tore apart like paper, a surge of black light engulfing the empty space nearby.
Illuminated by this same light, a man wearing dark robes.
This same man was currently all smiles, the edge of his mouth creepily close to his ears.
"Welcome back, Alexander!"
'??' Frowning, Alexander was surprised from the familiar voice but less familiar pressure. Carefully inspecting the man, Alexander felt doom loom over his head.
'Dammit!'
Valtos was currently displaying his peak Nihility Realm cultivation base, causing shivers to run through his flesh. This did not come as a surprise to Alexander, the Martial Dao was not only meant for him to walk upon. Countless beings advanced on its path at similar speeds than his own. As for Valtos, his current cultivation base was oppressing the youth of silver before him with ease.
And said youth of silver was not too happy about it.
"Senior!" Cupping his fists with a hidden frown, Alexander first needed to figure out his current predicament. Was he in danger? Maybe his situation had yet to turn for the worse?
But everything came crashing down when Valtos opened his mouth.
"Alexander! You shall follow I to battle against the Frozen Dream Sect! Our forces are at war once again, and we need all of the help we can get!"
"Across both of our forces, the number of Nihility Realm masters is not so high. Even someone like you, without a profound cultivation in this realm yet, can turn the scale upside down!!"
The obvious question to this, Alexander did not hesitate when laying it out.
"Can I refuse?"
His eyes turning less kind, slightly frigid even, Valtos waved his hand toward Alexander, as if clutching the empty space.
'It... what is he trying to-'
"Urgh!!"
Convulsing, Alexander felt a tug at his own existence.
"Unfortunately, we will need to discuss some things on the way. But! If you cannot even understand your own position, then I shall show it to you!!"
Universal blood dripping from his seven orifices, Alexander felt his life wither and his body crumble.
'Well at least this confirms it...' Chuckling even under the tremendous pain, he could now fully acknowledge his pitiful situation.
This strange and unfathomable power, Alexander already guessed its origin.
It came from a question he asked himself many times.
How could Valtos be so confident in suppressing him?
The answer was fairly straightforward.
A being born within one's internal world was also born from its refined and marked energies. Alexander himself was now an extension of Valtos.
It was no mythical technique or lost technology. It was simply a matter of logic. His every cells were made from Valtos' internal world, his soul included!
Even when fed the Universal Cores and such materials, they also might have been tempered with prior.
This gave Alexander a newfound understanding of Primordial Humans and their innate oppressive power.
Alexander was now at a dead end. He had no way to fight back nor the opportunity. The only way to free his body would be from reconstruction. But the issue came from his soul. A soul also targeted was near impossible to solve! There were not many solutions he currently could think of. One of them would be to surpass Valtos and sneak attack him, or at least accelerate his death.
Be it assassins or mercenaries, Alexander was already thinking about which would save him from Valtos' advantage.
"Are you maybe thinking of dealing with this marking? Unfortunately, I have yet to hear about someone managing to do it. Stop your silly dreams and come with me!"
"..." Feeling slightly annoyed, Alexander had no real choice. Either he temporarily submitted and worked for the Ninth Martial Dynasty or... died.
While he would prefer fighting it out, he had still hopes of liberating himself from this quandary. If there was no other choice, he would have chosen to die trying. But with the possibility of freedom, he firmly decided to swallow his little pride for now and let it roam free later.
He did not intend for his Martial Dao to be terminated so fast.
"Alright." Without much difficulty, Alexander nodded with an iron will. He had lived for long, and of course experienced such a scenario previously. Actually, even in the Celestial Realm, something comparable occurred. While not as problematic, his time with Natasha Ghylar proved to be a very dangerous situation during their very first meeting.
"Then let us depart!" Now aware of Alexander's resilience, Valtos teleported the both of them.
Travelling did not last long, and barely a few decades passing by, the battlefield Alexander was assigned to showed itself.
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The void ahead was disrupted, millions upon millions of beings clashing with one another. Origin Energy erupted left and right, while the countless Qi types battled and exploded across the horizon with vibrant colors.
While the Inner Territory was not weak by any mean, the average cultivation base was still much lower than the Nihility Realm, as it was the highest level of power there.
Only by heading to the Core Territory could one breakthrough, or so it was often told. The Ninth Martial Dynasty's ruler, Monarch Lu himself, was only a peak Nihility Realm master. Someone so prosperous had yet to make said breakthrough.
And in the billions of years Alexander spent cultivating in the void, almost all members of high position within both the Ninth Martial Dynasty and Frozen Dream Sect had broken through to the Nihility Realm's peak. While some were still stuck in the first stage and others awaited the second to be over, each force's influence had long since skyrocketed.
Of course the young would replace the old, yet because of the war breaking out again, each force's important members were mobilized. Therefore, none had the opportunity to reach the Core Territory yet.
Even after hearing Valtos' explanation, Alexander had doubts.
Why would beings comparable to their leaders not revolt? How hard could it be? It came off as strange. Quite suspicious actually.
But even with doubts plaguing his mind, Alexander needed to rest free of worries, as his first battle arrived sooner than expected.
After separating from Valtos, Alexander jumped into the fray, butchering hundreds of Frozen Dream Sect disciples on the way.
Clouds of blood and planets of bones filled the void, experts exploding themselves just to kill a couple enemies.
Even as a true master of the Inner Territory, Alexander remained careful. His Life Wheel was outside of his body, and not only a prime target, but also a sensitive spot.
After some contemplation now and prior, Alexander decided upon a specific way of battle.
Spreading his own Origin Energy outward, Alexander's surroundings turned a shade orange. The bright domain engulfing him was only for him to rule. An invincible protection. Only by breaking the outside could one crawl within.
This made sure no sneaky fellow above the Instinct Liberating Realm would backstab him.
A destroyed Life Wheel was no different than a destroyed Life Root. Only death awaited.
With peace of mind, Alexander could now focus on his opponents, slicing and tearing apart anyone wearing icy blue robes.
Fighting alongside him were people wearing all kinds of robes and armors, with many different types of artifact and techniques.
His battling lasted for a few weeks before someone approached him.
This person was a beautiful young lady. She wore icy blue robes accentuating her curvatures and stable posture. She seemed like a stranger, but Alexander knew better.
Her aura... but more so his own!
In his time within Limbo, Alexander had only placed trackers on very few people. Out of them, only one suffered and self-destructed.
When his tracker would be spotted and almost destroyed, it would explode into a mist of weak energies, swiftly infiltrating the target. In a way, this not only gave Alexander some knowledge about the target's methods, but also a tracker that would almost never fail!
As for this specific one...
He already knew who it was.
And with a wide smile, displaying his pearly white teeth and sharp canines, Alexander erupted in laughter.
"We meet again you rat!"
"Indeed..." Slightly nervous from her opponent's current show of stature, she frowned.
This lady was none other than Alexander's first proper opponent in Limbo. The hidden weirdo who was fully covered and defeated him using artifacts.
Alexander would never forget this annoying little bug, daring to sneak attack him with wealth instead of skill. He never doubted her victory for the duel, but her victory in fate was non-existent.
Letting him roam free after this duel was her greatest mistake... her true defeat... and Alexander's true victory!
She was now a little peak Earth Transcending Realm infant facing Alexander's peak first stage Nihility Realm cultivation base. What was there to doubt?
Even with her artifacts, her defeat this time would be extremely difficult to avoid.
"Give me your life!" Teleporting behind her, Alexander clawed at her back, a sudden blow she could not hope to evade so suddenly.
"Arh!!" Her complexion worsening, her face scrunched up, she felt tremendous pain assault her defenseless back. Her resolve withered while her eyes became teary.
Watching all of it unfold before his very eyes, Alexander was tremendously disappointed. It was not a matter of her being too weak. As for her gender, it did not matter. Alexander had seen as many women be scarier than men as the opposite. Her race was clearly human as well.
There was only one reason he could possibly come up with.
Sheltered! She had been sheltered so much, her near-death experience count was zero.
"Pathetic!" Feeling more annoyed than satisfied, Alexander sent a sudden kick at her bleeding back.
His feet receiving no feedback, his eyes stared ahead.
"..." Gazing upon two middle aged men in front, Alexander felt his anger rise. His complexion turned more defined as veins bulged across his cold face.
"So this is how you survived for so long..."
"By relying on your Frozen Dream Sect's feathered cushions and dull blades!"
"Fine..." His monologue abruptly ending, his coldness burst forth, freezing everything near. The void shivered while the lady and her escorts turned blue.
"If you want to die with her, then you are welcomed to do so!" Teleporting a small distance behind the group of three, he stopped in place for a moment. This gave them a fright, now preparing themselves for an unexpected blow.
Yet said blow did not come.
Even though Alexander was now on the verge of punching toward them, they felt nothing dangerous from upfront.
And when his fist slowly dug through the void and disappeared from sight, none present was the wiser.
They only stood there... motionlessly... like caught prey...
...while a portal appeared right behind the three of them...
...and the disappeared fist faded in, connecting with all three's skulls.
Awoken from battles nearby, thousands of fights halted... the world stopped... as the Frozen Dream Sect's princess had her skull cracked open, painting the void red, her Life Wheel turning red in an instant before crumbling.
Her two protectors were not sparred either, ending with the exact same fate falling upon them.
As for the fist... none could fathom how such a method could even exist.
'Took a bit of effort... but oh well. Works anyway!' Happy with his unavoidable strike, Alexander resumed his flight across Limbo.
The method he used required proportional strength to an incredible understanding of space. Only experts at the Nihility Realm would dare attempt such a twisted technique...
To forcefully line up three different layers of true space behind the opponents and send a portal there... it was simply too strange.
Not only did it require one to expertly manipulate true space, it also demanded another portal to be made.
By sending a punch into a portal just ahead, it would link the punch behind the opponents. At that time, the true space behind all three opponents' heads would be folded until it merged. Then, the punch would appear behind all three heads.
The hardest part was to control space so finely that this folding would not disrupt all others. To send a punch across all, without breaking any.
Otherwise, only one punch would be sent, if any.
It required one to merge three different spots in space itself until it became one! This was the power of one with the void. The Nihility Realm was not something any could attain. This understanding...
To understand so much without proper knowledge... only eating a supreme grade pill would be able to pull it off!