Leo felt his body ache as he woke up to a start Shade standing over him back in her normal form. Leo realized what happened and blushed embarrassed about what had just happened it was a good reminder that while 99% of Level 30’s wouldn’t stand a chance in hell against him people like Shade exist and can still pose a really big threat to him.
Shade smiled :”I haven’t been able to get an actual good fight out of anyone my Level thanks for this spar.
Leo grunted hopping back up :”Thanks for teaching me an important message today.”
Meira suddenly walked in and drew her bow nocking an arrow aiming towards Shade’s head :”Who the fuck are you and why are you in my home!”
Hubert came out to and slammed his shield into the ground. Leo hurriedly explained to them who Shade was and the details of their duel. Meira scratched her he’d awkwardly and Hubert put his shield away stepping up to apologize. Leo trying to relieve the awkwardness took out the thing that all cultivators couldn’t resist:”Now that I’m up and running how bout we go on a quest?”
Leo read over the details of the Level 75 adventure deciding on it. The administer looked over the adventure then looked over their levels and asked hesitantly :”I don’t want to be rude but are you sure you want this adventure? Many young talents die because they overestimate their strength.” Leo smiled :”It’s ok I think we’ll be good. Thanks for the advice though.” The administer smiled hesitantly :”Well I’ll leave you to it now I guess.”
Meira peered upward a hand over her eyes to block out the blinding sun :”Seriously could you have picked a worse adventure.” Leo scratched his head awkwardly :”How was I supposed to know that this assassin is hiding in the Tribulation Mountain?” Hubert grunted :”Nah, I don’t think it’s that bad besides sometimes Dao Treasures appear in the Tribulation Mountain.” Dao Treasures were treasures that could advance your Dao or help you form one entirely they were like portable insights and they always were in high demand. Even the high grade ones were put as the top treasure in auctions. Thankfully for people like Leo Dao Treasures weren’t the best way to progress and using too many can leave you with an unstable foundation that would result in problems when tackling Hegemony.
Shade started floating towards the mountain. Leo Meira and Hubert exchanged a jealous glance and started arduously climbing the mountain. Tribulation Mountain lived up to it’s name it got the name because it was actually a popular place for people to temper themselves the lower parts of the mountain just had a incredibly increased gravity people say that the top parts felt like climbing against Fate and reaching the top even gave you a decent title. Though reaching the top was hard or even downright impossible for most cultivators. After all the codex of the Heavens was always the stronger get stronger and everything else becomes fertilizer for the strong’s Path.
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Finding a skilled Sword Curse assassin especially one in the E-Grade in this kind of place was hard really hard. On the good side if Leo managed to get the kill he would complete another one of his quests. Thus they embarked walking through the lower levels of the mountain. Leo for some reason always felt a slight pang of danger probably courtesy of his absurd Luck but he could never seem to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from. The group found a couple Attuned Crystals and Plants but nothing truly special. The only worthwhile encounter was the Level 40 Blackshade Panther. But even that was two shotted by two [Void Slashes] the Energy was able to bring Leo up a level though putting him up at Level 31.
At this point they all realized that there was no meaning in searching the lower bottom of the Tribulation Mountain anymore they advanced upwards into the middle section of the mountain meant for Low E-Grades. At this point Meira and Hubert could barely walk let alone fight so they ended up adventuring the lower half of the mountain.
Leo trudged on through Tribulation Mountain as the weight increased even Shade’s floating power was nullified at this point and she had to walk just like Leo though she wasn’t tired at all. It’s been a day and there has been no hint of their target nearby. Of course if they could sense him in this weakened state he really wouldn’t have been some elite assassin. Leo has had already progressed to the middle-up section and the beings here were powerful sometimes and required hm to exert himself to a point. More importantly Leo felt something in his spirit like a resonance. Leo felt that the Dao was gathering in his spirit and body. But Leo didn’t know what resonated with him. Shit he didn’t know what he really wanted to do. Leo never felt some divine feeling towards Water or really any element. Leo wasn’t those kinds of people who had an affinity towards anything. Heck, he didn’t have any affinity an anomaly that people weren’t able to explain. The Emperor wasn’t able to provide any help or rather seemed unwilling only commenting that cultivation was a journey of self realization and any help from him might have unwanted concequences.
Leo never had a passion for anything but getting stronger he didn’t have some profound thing he loved but rather the feeling of rising to the top of seeing the tru face of power and enjoying the benefits at the peak. Leo didn’t need a reason to crave power he just did he would take what he would need and discard anything else he didn’t need rising to the top.
Leo felt his mind’s clarity sharpen as he felt a relief like never before. The Dao was everything and everything was the Dao. Dao doesn’t have to be some physical concept like Fire or Water. Dao can be intent can be conviction can be meaning. In the end Leo would even be able to shape the very Dao themself into his image. Leo suddenly realized what the Void Emperor Bloodline meant. It wasn’t the actual Void Of Space it was much deeper than that. It represented the Emperor’s will to gain power through any means. The same conviction Leo felt. The reason the Emperor implanted him as the candidate to become his vessel was because they had similar convictions and Paths. Both hungry for power.
The Heavens shifted once again just slightly as a ancient Path and a new Path collided and the Dao rejoiced as another Peak was slightly fixed.