Chapter 1357 1357. Hellish Landscape
Problems always arrived in bulk. Noah only wanted to explore a series of inheritances after the mess with the Pyramid, but the Crystal City didn't want to let him go.
'The Land of the Fallen has just become a massive trap,' Noah concluded after analyzing his situation. 'There might be assassins in every corner. I don't think I can escape from them forever.'
Noah wasn't against small organizations. He couldn't escape from a region as he did with the Elbas family. He would have to leave the whole human domain in his situation.
Of course, Noah wanted to avoid that option. The lands under the control of the magical beasts could give him many nutrients, but he had learnt the limits of living in the wilderness long ago.
Noah needed to interact with cultivators to improve as a cultivator. It was merely logical, especially for an existence that had to nourish an individuality with multiple features.
'He told me before entering Silkpost city,' Noah thought as he glanced at Fergie. 'Maybe it's just fear, but it doesn't hurt to give him a purpose.'
"I will set you free when I reach the eighth rank," Noah said casually. "You will decide if you want to keep working for me afterward."
Fergie felt dumbfounded when he heard those words. He didn't know if Noah was joking or was utterly delusional.
Noah had spoken about the eighth rank as if it was an easy level to reach. He didn't show any uncertainty about his belief. Noah had sounded sure that he would grow to that point.
Fergie could only reply with a nod. He didn't wholly believe Noah, but he couldn't do anything else in his situation. It didn't matter if he believed Noah. Betraying him wasn't an option now.
Noah had lost interest in his underling as soon as he spoke those words. He had far more important matters to handle. He had to decide how to proceed with the Crystal City hunting him down.
'The easiest option is to join another powerful organization,' Noah thought before discarding that idea.
Even if he were to join the Balrow family, its higher-ups would force him to swear the Crystal City's oath to avoid problems. He would keep his life, but he would lose his freedom.
Escaping wasn't an option either, not before seizing everything that the human domain had to offer at least. Noah felt interested in the wilderness and inheritances they contained, but his growth remained his main priority.
'I can only choose the battlefield then,' Noah concluded in his mind.
Facing the Crystal City head-on would be idiotic. That organization even had at least one rank 8 cultivator in its ranks. Noah couldn't fight it in an open field. He had to use all the tricks learnt in the lower place to defeat it.
"I suggest you return to Vagona city," Fergie said at some point. "The Crystal City can't attack you there, and you have enough talent to join a powerful family. Staying put for a few millennia isn't shameful when your opponents are those fanatics."
"Who cares about shame," Noah replied while a sigh escaped his mouth. "I won't hide for millennia and risk my potential. Just keep me updated about eventual secret auctions. I will handle this mess."
Noah walked past Fergie after that line. He had no reason to waste time anymore. A plan had already formed in his mind, and he couldn't wait to put it into motion.
Fergie could only watch Noah leave and disappear from his vision. No words managed to come out of his throat. Things that seemed so normal in his mind were utterly unacceptable for Noah, and he couldn't help but feel in awe of that mindset.
A small fire lit up inside him after Noah left. The more Fergie thought about him, the more he felt that he lacked something as a cultivator.
Noah's approach to life left him speechless and put him in a strange mood. Fergie suddenly felt the need to cultivate harder and spend more time focusing on his power.
A laugh eventually escaped from his mouth after he analyzed those emotions. The human world had suppressed his ambition, but a hybrid had managed to awaken it.
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Noah flew at full speed toward Silkpost city. He could avoid entering the settlement to reach his target, but he wanted all the forces involved in his hunt to see him.
The Land of the Fallen had many famous inheritances that had yet to find an heir, and one of the most renowned was a place called Hellish Landscape.
The Hellish Landscape was an inheritance created by the dying wish of an important leader who had fallen against the hordes of magical beasts crossing the border. Her name was Heavenly Fire, and she had been one of the strongest rank 8 cultivators of her time.
Her dying wish had given birth to a separate dimension that had trapped many magical beasts and had hidden her belongings. Most experts even believed that her core techniques were somewhere at the bottom of that inheritance.
Heavenly Fire's inheritance featured items and techniques meant for cultivators with a fire aptitude. Noah wouldn't naturally feel any interest in them. Still, the expert's dying wish had been so powerful that it had absorbed other inheritances when it took form.
The separate dimension didn't contain only Heavenly Fire's inheritance. It also featured many smaller legacies created by the dying wishes of weaker cultivators.
Heavenly Fire's greatness had even allowed the Hellish Landscape to contain other rank 8 cultivators' inheritances. That separate dimension was the most popular location in the entire Land of the Fallen. Still, its environment made it hard to explore.
The magical beasts trapped inside the Hellish Landscape were the same creatures that had managed to kill Heavenly Fire. That spoke for their power, and their long imprisonment had given them the time to fill that environment with descendant.
The creatures in the separate dimension were also more violent due to their anger toward human beings. Some experts believed that a few of them had also developed Bloodline Inheritances due to their leaders' intense emotions.
The Hellish Landscape's value increased because of those features, but they also made its environment harsher. Only powerful experts could survive there. The weaker ones had to limit themselves to the few safe areas.
Noah had chosen to explore the Hellish Landscape because his species had an advantage in environments filled with magical beasts. His hybrid status could even save him from those creatures' intense aggression since he wasn't an actual human.
Moreover, a wild environment would give him a significant advantage against eventual pursuers. Noah planned to lure any assassin member of the Crystal City inside the Hellish Landscape and take care of them while exploring the various inheritances.
Silkpost city soon appeared in his vision. That city was far different from Vagona city. It featured a series of small mansions and tents that their owners could easily move if the situation required it.
Their vicinity to the magical beasts' domain put Silkpost city in constant danger. Its citizens didn't know when the next invasion would arrive, so they were ready to move anytime.
Noah landed on one of the main streets of the city. Tiles mixed with terrain divided the various buildings, and powerful experts walked around them as they inspected the goods they contained.
The atmosphere was far different there. Noah felt as if he had entered a battlefield filled with warriors, and some of them turned in his direction after he landed.