Hundreds of thousands of years passing, Yu Xian, Livia and Kui Hulor had not only managed to regain their cultivation and even improve them, but also gather suitable forces to fight their sect's master.
It was when the Dragon Festival was only a few centuries away that Alexander faced this trio on his own platform. The sun was setting and the wind blew with coldness. After some silent staring, Yu Xian took the lead, raising his arm in the process.
After some time, he flung it down, cleaving the air.
Nothing.
Startled, Yu Xian tried again, but to no avail. Looking curiously at the three dumbfounded rats trying to kill him, Alexander scoffed audibly.
"Oh? Something's wrong perhaps? Did your little helpers not arrive in time...or are they already dead?"
Shivering from these words, the trio felt their advantage disappear. They had relied on those helpers to turn the tide during the fight and gain a much needed elevated ground.
But now...
"I don't understand why you guys are so dumb, really. Do you think my Divine Sense is incapable of tracking you all? Do you think I wouldn't know? Do you think I'll tolerate it?!"
His voice turning louder and louder each question, Alexander did not feel like wasting any more time on them. Waving his hand casually, he severed their arms and retrieved the space rings on them. After which, he directly ended their lives with entertainment, scanning their internal worlds as well.
"Thanks to you backstabbing shits, I got some World Seeds!" Each time they recruited someone or something, he would kill them in cold blood and gain some resources. As for those helpers' cultivation, none were above him.
Taking a look at a yellow book taken from Yu Xian's internal world, his cultivation back to the Celestial Realm's standard by now, he showed a look of understanding.
"Thunder God's Absolute Lightning Art... Is that where his confidence came from? A dead man's secret art? Let me see... its definitely not bad... but not great either... Maybe I just don't get it, but it is quite underwhelming to be honest..."
As for Livia's and Kui Hulor's half-step Greater Existence Realm cultivation bases, they were definitely no match for him either.
They had found a few helpers at the Greater Existence Realm as well, but a good ninety percent of them were Alexander in disguise. As for the remaining ten percent, Alexander left none alive.
'In the end, I still don't have enough World Seeds yet. The Dragon Festival is a must!'
Leisurely entering his hall to wait, Alexander did not bother to even report their deaths.
Flying across the beautiful land, roaming below the cloudless sky, Alexander headed straight for the Dragon Festival.
Luckily, his own estimations were slightly off, as he only needed eight months to arrive.
Beneath his floating figure, stalls and pedestrians were commonplace. A city took shape, and in the middle, a giant arena.
Feeling the aura of countless masters, Alexander was slightly apprehensive.
'I'll have to be sneaky.' The Dragon Festival was actually a tournament for talented people, no matter the age. Many hoped to leap above the dragon gate. In this case however, it was mainly going inside the dragon den.
The atmosphere was lively, with a sea of people below, looking exactly like a mortal festival.
However, any random passerby was a powerful expert. The weakest Alexander managed to find was still a peak Blooming Lotus Realm. This place was filled with Primordial Harmonization and Immortal Sky Realm masters, even a few at the Greater Existence Realm were sneaking in.
'Is this where they say 'A place filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers'?' Stroking his beard, Alexander descended.
Passing by lively stalls and cheering crowds, he released his Divine Sense to its fullest.
Not much was found, until a few days later.
'Dragon Race!' Disbelief coloring his face, Alexander felt his luck to simply be too good.
'Peak Immortal Sky Realm... easy!' Not many would think this way, after all, the Dragon Race was known for its incredible might and domineering aura. Anyone in his shoes would choose to flee facing it. Facing a dragon was completely different from hearing about one. Hearing about their accomplishments was fine, but standing face to face with this oppressive figure, even the sturdiest of mind would waver. This did not come from their size or appearance. How many experts had killed beasts countless times their size? The problem came from their powerful bloodline and natural oppressive power. This was a gift from the Heavens.
But who was Alexander? Let alone killing a small dragon, he had caused their extermination! So what if a few stronger dragons were here? He did not want to offend the powers of this world casually, since he would be traced back at some point. But the dragons were so stupid, he despised their lack of brains deeply.
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Feeling his Instinct Core spinning madly, Alexander smirked.
'You can't blame me!' Kicking the ground, Alexander was not intending on being overly sneaky. Changing his appearance, he had already switched clothes.
A loud explosion startling the passersby, a random luxurious house had been blown to smithereens. The wall blasted, it was not lonely, as the wall opposite was also destroyed, but this time, two figures could be seen.
Ignoring the smoke, Alexander had a young man in blue robes in his grasp, his claw-like hand firmly holding the man's head.
"Who are you?! How dare- urgh!" Grimacing in pain, the man felt Alexander's hand tighten considerably.
"Shut up! You little Dragon Race, do you believe that this old master will take your life?" Hoping to receive some resistance, Alexander was disappointed. Since the youth was not ready to fight, he could only send him on his way.
Crushing his head like an egg, Alexander threw his corpse down below where many people hurried to. Of course not without taking everything possible on his person.
Still flying, Alexander disappeared in a forest, while holding a space ring.
'Nod bad. It was a successful mission, came and left in a matter of minutes.' But before he could rejoice too much, another figure blocked his path.
"Who are you? Dare to block this old master's path? Die!" Sending a powerful palm, the figure scoffed before roaring like a Dragon, intending on easily blocking the strike.
Seeing this, Alexander sneered.
"Dragon Race? Now I get it, not bad you ant, but so what? Think that you're invincible in the world?" Hearing his mockery, the middle aged Dragon frowned. And the moment Alexander finished his words, his palm print had already arrived.
Scoffing, the middle aged man simply waved his hand, feeling invincible, easily crushing the palm strike.
Or so he thought.
"What?!" His hand dissipating as if snow facing a burning star, the man was startled. He was a first stage Greater Existence Realm Dragon, he could contend with anyone below the third stage... so why was the random palm strike so effective?
He could simply not understand.
"Clearly you don't have much battle experience, not even able to gauge my strike's power accurately. Disgraceful!" As his words ended, the palm strike, like a wolf on fresh meat, had already collided with the middle aged man, turning his body into a flat piece of meat. Shockwaves shattering the forest, the Dragon's body was then turned into blood mist.
Seeing this, Alexander did not know why the Dragon Race was so mighty.
"What strong body? Can't even handle a casual strike." While Alexander was strong, and definitely stronger than the dragons, he still did not put much effort into his strike, sending a casual palm. Who would have thought that the Dragon Race members were all sheltered flowers to such an extent?
Retrieving the mist's cracked space ring, Alexander heaved a sigh of relief, as the fortune inside was not lost, only the exterior appearance of the ring damaged.
Leaving swiftly, he did not even bother looking back, heading in a random direction to avoid connections being made between him and the Devouring Sect.
After a couple of years of back and forth, Alexander was confident in having slowly erased his traces over time. Now, he was already back to the Devouring Sect.
"This trip was quite nice, I got quite the wealth." His adventure gaining him around 7 300 World Seeds, it could be said that it was indeed worthwhile.
'Now, I still don't have enough for a perfect breakthrough... but enough for half of it.' Stroking his lush beard, Alexander was truly stuck in a dilemma.
Should he use his World Seeds to breakthrough, or should he not?
If he did, he would lose his foundation, but if he did not, he would be unable to breakthrough for an unknown amount of time.
'The sect was originally meant to help me gather World Seeds while doing some experiments... But since the experiments will take time and World Seeds seem exclusive to peak Primordial Harmonization Realm cultivators and beyond...'
'Fuck it I guess.'
Circulating Celestial Qi in his throat and lungs, Alexander parted his lips, sending his voice booming across the lands.
"I will go into seclusion, do not disturb me!"
Cultivators gained long lifespans, and the Celestial Realm was not exempt from it. While the lifespan would be lower than expected, a Primordial Harmonization Realm expert could still live for millions upon millions of years.
Entering his hall, before closing it, Alexander dug down. Once he reached an abyssal depth, he sat cross-legged. Taking out thousands of World Seeds, he first started by comprehending their power.
After a hundred thousand years, Alexander's Daos had reached a newfound height and could convert Celestial Qi into World Seed like powers.
'I'm dumb. I should've done that to begin with.' Clicking his tongue in embarrassment, Alexander resumed, putting away his remaining World Seeds.
After two thousand years, Alexander broke through to the Inner World Tribulation Stage. His internal world was being ravaged by the powerful Heavenly Tribulation from above.
The many disciples of the Devouring Sect were shocked. Up into the clouded sky, bolts of vibrant green lightning thicker than houses struck down on the mountain peak. The hall was reduced to dust and the hole Alexander dug had been enlarged proportionally.
Luckily, the Heavenly Tribulation was merciful, even if someone was close, it did not hurt them.
Nourishing his internal world with the Heavenly Lightning, Alexander felt his Lotus Core change.
'Dao of Life! It's actually the Life Dao that is being used to strike me down!'
'To think the Heavenly Lightning would use a Dao. Very interesting! Now I know, I know what to do!' Without his instincts, Alexander might have required some time to think things through, but with it, it was not the case.
'Is it time? It's time to create life inside my new internal world?' Alexander had already hosted lives inside his Dantian. At the time, they were strange and void of remarkable intelligence. They were simply placeholders.
But along the Life Dao demonstrated by the tribulation, this would not end the same way.
'I will need a bit of time to master this level of Dao.' Alexander never focused on the Life Dao. He had used it slightly when practicing the [13 Divine Martial Arts], but that was it. Now he needed a much higher level of comprehension before moving forward.
'Is that why nobody is breaking through?' Ignoring the many questions, Alexander endured the many lightning bolts with surprising ease. He was still damaged, but the Law of Life contained inside each of them countered their own power. This tribulation was clearly not meant to even cause damage. The only damage it did was to accurately strike him. If he was at the surface, the tribulation would probably not even use a speck of power.
As the ninth strike landed, the clouds in the sky dissipated.
The sky soon returned to its flawless blue.
As for Alexander, he was still comprehending the Dao of Life deep underground.
He could not rush things, even his initial comprehension was nothing but sand facing the storm.
His cultivation halted at the Greater Existence Realm's peak, his next stop was an unknown realm. He did not know its name, only its existence.
Unaware of the world above, ignoring the sounds, isolated in darkness, void of sensations, Alexander stood motionless.
A statue of the world. A product of the Heavens.