Abdin waited patiently for the man to arrive within an inch of his body before he transformed his entire body into lightning. The ax and the old man sunk into his molten body. When they were halfway through, the lightning humanoid form exploded with them at the center. Everyone else was forced back by several meters.
After the dust settled, Kininura was nowhere to be found. Additionally, Abdin had appeared a few inches away from Jubu with an unsheathed sword in hand.
Nobody had seen when Abdin moved or when he unsheathed his sword. He wasn't carrying any sword a moment before.
"What do you know about Fabae?"
The prince was dumbstruck, his eyes suddenly became listless.
"Hmm. Do not be shocked. I know about Fabae and... Origin. If the next thing that comes out of your mouth isn't what I want to hear, haha..."
Jubu stared at Abdin with newfound curiosity. This man wasn't among the first one hundred most dangerous people on this planet. Nobody had cared to even mentioned his name in the books. But he was here in front of him showing such power that he couldn't even imagine.
"You have two seconds," Abdin said without taking his eyes from the prince's neck.
"I will advise you to not mention these two worlds again, you will interfere with something which you can't even begin to fathom."
Abdin shook his head. "Your answer is wrong." His sword cut off the head of the prince in an instant. The young man was still rolling his eyes when he died.
Abdin waited on the spot for a moment, expecting more enemies to appear. He turned around and looked at a corner in the distant forest. There was some pol fluctuation coming from there, indicating that someone or some people were hiding there. They must have sent Jubu and Kininura to test him out. And the two fools gladly came forward and sacrificed their poor lives.
[You have protected the castle. Congratulations, you have gained 93 years.]
[You have protected the castle. Congratulations, you have gained 54 years.]
[You have protected the castle. Congratulations, you have gained 38 years.]
[You have protected the castle. Congratulations, you have gained 66 years.]
[You have protected the castle...]
All the messages were congratulations. But that wasn't all.
[It is now time for the second expansion. Congratulations, you have reached all the requirements.]
Did that mean his cultivation had reached the peak of foundation establishment? But he had been careful with it, it wasn't supposed to happen just yet.
He looked into his core and realized he was still at 849 years. That would mean the castle had changed in the same abrupt manner again. The first expansion was supposed to be at 250 years. The second expansion at 1000 years.
[You have absorbed six towns. The lives of 4,321 humans and 2,321,555 livestock have been lost.]
Abdin frowned. So many things were happening at the same time. It was six towns in a row, why was the number of dead people so low? Even a small village would have more than five thousand people living in it.
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Additionally, since the castle had expanded a second time, he couldn't go back to the beginning even if he died. At this point, if he were to die, he couldn't go back beyond the first expansion. He no longer had the opportunity to start from the beginning and summon a new castle. The only other way was to erase everything, cripple his cultivation, weaken his soul, destroy all of his Ayrids, and flee just like the last time. Something he had promised not to do again.
"Juwaira..." The face of the princess appeared in his mind.
Now he couldn't change whatever happened to the princess before the first expansion.
Tall buildings with red paint appeared in the third castle. Another massive wall had appeared and surrounded all three castles. It was like one giant castle with three smaller components. The third expansion was successful.
Abdin turned to his people and realized they had been staring at the new buildings with gaping mouths. He shook his head and let out a sigh. This was only the second expansion and the third castle. Every expansion would come with new buildings and an even better spirit ki.
Additionally, there was a gift from the castle.
[Congratulations. You have gotten the golem right. Slots: 250. Level: one-third of your cultivation.]
Abdin took a deep breath. Although he would allow himself to enjoy the new benefits, he still had to be extremely cautious.
Silver Mask didn't appear. That could mean so many things. Maybe he was chasing Juwaira or he was already interrogating her, or maybe he didn't get to her yet. The mysterious disappearance of the princess wasn't making any sense at this moment. It couldn't be that the castle was making fun of him again, right? There was that time when the castle decided to send people into a pocket dimension with time-dilation villages. It was a terror that was still fresh in his mind. Juwaira couldn't survive that hell.
Abdin shook his head. It was unlikely for the castle to do that, it didn't have the energy to do that. The most likely thing was that Juwaira was stopped by some people, how that would happen was still a mystery.
Second, what happened to all the tens of thousands of people in those six towns that were absorbed? Abdin had the population count of the towns in his head. Did they just vanish into thin air or was someone protecting them? But how did they even know an expansion was coming?
***
Before this moment, in the distant North near the top-tier cultivation sects, a powerful existence stood with an unsheathed sword. The sword had turned red, blood dripping from it and flames somehow burning on it at the same time. It was a bizarre sight.
Two flames - one black, one white, one on each side of the blade - burned on the sword. In one instant, the flames would engulf the blade making it disappear, another instant they would vanish without a trace and leave the sword.
All around this man were corpses. So many dead bodies that you couldn't even see an inch of the ground. Each corpse was intact and you would begin to imagine the cause of death.
The man stood alone and unmoving, emitting earth-shattering blood thirst.
He didn't have a speck of dust or a drop of blood on him. If not for his scent and the sword, you would think he arrived at the scene after the massacre.
Even as he stood there, a massive ship was floating above him. A dark, cylindrical silencer was pointing at him from the ship. A warning sound was released from the ship and in the next second, a ball of light mixed with flames was fired from the silencer. It engulfed both the man and the corpses almost instantly.
Flames burned everything in sight. The corpses that had been there a moment ago were gone. Only a massive crater the size of a village remained. A single man stood in the crater. He still didn't have any speck of dust on him and his overall appearance was as good as new. You would think he wasn't there when the ship attacked.
The man didn't even glance at the ship. Either he was too lazy to notice it or it wasn't worth his time.
As if responding to his ridicule, several portals opened around him. Thousands of cultivators at the peak of the core formation stage walked out of the portals. Their commanders stood at the forefront with cultivation levels that couldn't even be assessed.
Soon the crater and beyond were filled with soldiers. All of them drew their weapons and faced the man.
They all wanted one thing: the death of this man. They attacked at the same time.
The man raised his sword lazily. But the men weren't giving him any chance. When the sword was only at the level of his chest, countless fireballs and flying swords had already closed in on him. It didn't seem like his corpse would be recognizable afterward.