Chapter 259 - A Journey Through the Stars I
Powerful forces were gathering from all around, each one holding their own goals and ideals as they all focused towards a particular location. It was an area across the vast space that was filled with ruthless beings that only sought death and destruction, it was the Infernal Realms!
In these wide Infernal Realms, the focus for many of the powerful worlds currently was on the First Hell, the Infernal Realm that was closest to them, the first realm that could very easily open its gateways into this universe.
As always, the trainees and disciples of the powerful powers were prepared as the Infernal Hunt was about to begin. Over the thousands of years, the powerful forces under the direction of even more terrifying forces behind the scenes had created this Infernal Hunt to become more of a competition than the widespread massacre of the destructive beings in the Realms of Hell.
This competitive spirit was even more apparent in the World of Cultivation as its three Supreme Sects were always fighting for power, trying their best to garner more resources from the higher powers based on how they perform on events such as this.
It was not just disciples that were given incentives and rewards to do well in the Infernal Hunt, the leaders of the different sects and powers were also incentivized by the powerful force of the Celestials behind them. The powers that made the most contributions would garner the favor of one of the few powerful and secretive forces of the Universe, while also gaining abundant rewards in the form of stupendous techniques and treasures for them to add to their collections.
Thus, the powerhouses in the Profound Astral Sect were most pleased when they saw the 'returning disciples' that would be fighting for them, the joy of those who knew the actual secrets behind the scenes being even higher, as they knew these beings were disciples of the Celestials themselves.
This was the favor that the Profound Astral Sect of the World of Cultivation received after connecting themselves with the powerful force that was the Celestials!
The other two Supreme Sects only had suspicions and unconfirmed theories as they gradually watched the power of the Profound Astral Sect continue to rise higher and higher over the years, with very few having the knowledge of their association with the Celestials.
The newly arriving Celestial Disciples looked at the numerous disciples around the main peak of the Profound Astral Sect as they serenely made their way to the section where Core Disciples were situated.
Powerful auras felt each other out as the new figures observed the auras of the Saint Realm William and Crixus, along with other disciples that were at the peak of the Transcendent Realm.
These were beings that could be called geniuses by many standards, but Drax, Athena, and the other Celestial Disciples only looked at them briefly as their gazes only passed through them, finding their own positions and looking forward to where the Elders of the Profound Astral Sect were situated.
"Quiet Down!"
OOONG
A powerful sound reverberated throughout the main peak as a single bearded Elder of the Profound Astral Sect spoke. Surrounding him were a few more Elders that let out levels of power no less than his, being vigorously powerful, they were releasing a purple milky aura of the Void Fimerment Realm!
Their show of power awed the disciples as the Elder up front, the one known as Elder Spacewarp, waved his aged hands to cause a powerful ripple to appear in the skies above them. A few seconds later, the sky darkened as a tremendously large ship floated in the skies above the Steller Sky Mountains.
The large vessel could only be described as a ship as it took the general outline, with various runic markings and spreading throughout its black exterior, and powerful weapons that let out an oppressive light.
Elder Spacewarp's eyes let out a sharp light as he laid them on the Interstellar Warship above him yet again. He very rarely got the Sect Master's permission to use this amazing piece of ingenuity, but today was a special day with the arrival of the beings that gave them this Interstellar Warship in the first place!
His gaze briefly stayed on the figure of Athena who was standing at the forefront of the Celestial Disciples as he continued.
"The journey to the First Realm of Hell of the Infernal Realms will begin now. The disciples who wish to participate can now board the ship!"
VOOM
A wide section of the Interstellar Warship opened as it revealed wide doors and an exquisitely built interior. A ship like this only held a single purpose, and that was to traverse through space!
This was one of the many unique things about the place known as the Infernal Realms, They existed in locations where the powerful forces could not establish teleportation portals, and they had to travel to these locations through powerful sh.i.p.s like these.
The many disciples looked at this sight with blazing eyes, but they held themselves back and remained still! They knew how things worked, and their eyes gazed upon the location of the Core Disciples.
The Shining Son, William, moved first as he nodded the five Celestial Disciples, leading the way as he flew up serenely towards the ship. The Celestial Disciples also moved next as behind them, the being with the figure of 'Crixus' moved with a mixed expression that any watching disciples and Elders interpreted as a look of determination and slight fear.
Elder Baldwin watched his son fly towards the spaceship as he nodded his head.
'Be strong, my child. Show me that you have truly regained your genius and wit!'
Elder Baldwin held strong beliefs about his son, providing him with almost all of his reserves of Spiritual Stones he had collected over the years, even wagering many of his pill making hours to other Elders of the Sect to borrow more Spirit Stones and Medicinal Herbs for his son's use to consolidate his cultivation.
After a few days, his aura at the Saint Realm had consolidated, and Elder Baldwin had provided him with an abundant amount of Saint Techniques from the Elder's Vault of the Profound Astral Sect for him to peruse as he journeyed across the stars towards the Infernal Realm.
'Crixus' looked back towards his father briefly as he nodded, before he entered the tremendously large Interstellar Warship where powerful Celestial Disciples were calmly walking through, along with the slightly surprised William that was looking at everything with wonder.
Behind them, the time came for the less powerful Core Disciples and Inner Disciples of the Profound Astral Sect to begin boarding the huge ship, the many figures on the Main Peak of the Stellar Sky Mountains moving busily, the disciples choosing to test their lives in the Infernal Realm all boarding with enthusiasm.
Elder Spacewarp watched the process with calm eyes, and after a significant amount of time had passed, nodded his head as he observed a significant amount of disciples board the ship. He turned to the ones remaining on the mountains as he spoke out.
"Cultivate hard, and years from now you will be among the ones fighting in the front lines against Infernals, gaining power and glory like your fellow disciples that you will be looking up to!"
OOOH!
Excited yells were released from the disciples as they bade farewell to their heroic brothers and sisters that would brave the dangers of the Infernal Realm.
The figures of Elder Spaceward and a few other Elders disappeared in the Interstellar Warship soon after, a rumbling ensuing across the Stellar Sky Mountains as the tremendously large piece of weaponry released abundant energy as it began moving higher and higher towards the sky.
Those within could only distinctly start seeing the world below them become smaller and smaller as they observed the environment outside of the Interstellar Warship, some still amazed at this simple feature that allowed those inside the ship to see the things outside as if there were no barriers between them.
On a more elevated area of the Interstellar Warship, the group of Celestial Disciples were situated in one of the extravagant wide spaces calmly, with the powerful Athena in the lead looking at the environment of the ship around
her with reminiscence.
She wasn't the only one in deep thought as not too far away from her, Noah, in the form of Crixus, was calmly sitting down and gazing at the gradual appearance of stars with their rapid ascension, many thoughts crossing in his mind as a dangerous smile could not help but spread across his lips!
He had prepared, and prepared extensively for the journey ahead.
More than 3 months of time he had spent in the Spiritual Land under accelerated time. He had combined a tremendous amount of skills and learned new ones, looked at countless possibilities, and made plans on top of even more back up plans. Yet, he had not foreseen the appearance of a being he never thought he would meet so fast, the extremely powerful Athena, nor the reappearance of Celestial Disciple, Drax!
The [Insight] ability of the Dagger of Time had not given clues about these beings before they appeared, and their appearance could have any number of effects on the many possibilities he calculated. Yet, he still could not help but smile.
The wide smile he could not help but release was from the fact that the events which will take place in this journey were just too...interesting!
Chapter 260 - A Journey Through the Stars II
Across the vast emptiness of space, a colossal Interstellar Warship was traversing through at high speeds.
The Inhabitants of this particular Warship had left behind the World of Cultivation, gradually watching as it became a tiny blip in the periphery of their visions as the expansive and shining space opened itself up before them.
The Interstellar Warship was being piloted by the Void Fimerment Realm Elders, with the powerful Elder Spacewarp in the lead as they released their unique auras that were attuned with the void to travel through space.
This was what the realm above Saint signified, a breakthrough where one became stupendously powerful enough to be able to traverse through space, the length only being dependent on how abundant their energies were.
Many different powers throughout the universe held their own names and terms to signify the levels of strength, but they all gradually converged and became more similar as the ranks went higher.
The Cultivators called the rank above Saint to be the Void Fimerment Realm, while Noah already had the knowledge of the next rank above Saint would simply be called the Void Rank by his own System. The Celestials had an even simpler way to break apart the levels of power, with a Rank 3 Celestial encapsulating the ranks of Transcendent and Saint, while a Rank 4 Celestial encompassed the Void Rank, and the rank above it once one reached the peak of Rank 4 Celestial.
The Celestial Disciple Drax was currently at the peak of Rank 3, having vigorous strength at the Saint Rank, but the woman with a serene expression and calculating eyes that was Athena...she was most definitely not a Rank 3 Celestial.
This meant that at the least, the War Princess Athena was an Initial Stage Rank 4 Celestial, making her stably standing in the Void Rank!
This was the true genius that the disciples spread out around the Interstellar Warship could only stare at from afar as they talked to one another.
Noah continued to scour through the many memories dealing with this deadly figure, trying his best to understand why she was given the title of War Princess by an organization as powerful as the Celestials themselves.
His thoughts were interrupted as William slowly neared his position and spoke coldly.
"I'm glad my junior brother was finally able to break past his restrictions and enter the Saint Realm, but are you sure you are competent enough to not embarrass yourself and the sect in front of the eyes of many major powers?"
His voice was neither too loud nor too quiet, those that were near being able to hear it as Noah turned his head and looked at this young genius of the Profound Astral Sect. His voice languidly came out as he spoke calmly.
"I know I did some horrible things in the past, causing many of the things that happened between us, but I am prepared to leave all of these behind."
His eyes gazed towards the floating stars that could be seen outside the ship as he continued.
"My father agreed with this line of thought and even asked me to be the first one to reach out to you, so I will do so now. Let us put behind us our bad history as we move forward."
His words were roughly something a changed Crixus that had broken through and regained his genius would say, but they more so came from Noah himself as he didn't want this genius of the Profound Astral Sect to continue butting heads with him, nor possibly do something stupid like come for his life.
The Crixus that he had problems with was long dead, being given a much-deserved rest after living such horrendous years of crimes that he did not have to be taken accountable for. He knew the character of William, and thus wanted to spare the being an early death in case he decided to move against the body that he was currently wearing.
The Shining Son listened to these words in shock as he did not even know what to say, his gaze changing to confusion as he moved away and went towards the party of five Celestial Disciples.
Noah continued to observe the starry space around the Interstellar Warship as they traversed through the stars at high speeds, his awareness spread out as he observed every single movement that the Celestial Disciples were making while even more of his thoughts were on the First Hell of the Infernal Realms that he was about to delve into.
His preparations were abundant and he was not worried, but it would not hurt to make even more back up plans while taking into account the new arrivals. He continued to calculate in his mind as the hours passed, the ship they were on continuing to shoot through the gorgeous scenes of stars all around them.
Soon enough, they began to observe movements aside from their ship as more and more vessels moving through space began to appear, heading towards the same direction that they were heading in.
These were the sh.i.p.s from various powers of Prime Worlds and higher worlds that sent their disciples and trainees towards this Infernal Hunt. A sense of pride welled up within the disciples of the Profound Astral Sect as they found to their surprise that their ship was among the largest ones they could see.
Awe and amazement continued to bloom as a grandiose scene of Interstellar Warsh.i.p.s traversed through space towards a singular location- the doorway that led to the First Realm of Hell.
Another few hours passed as they continued, and soon enough they began to see a shining red light begin to encompass their entire field of vision as they neared a stupendous and unimaginable sight.
The multitude of sh.i.p.s carrying powerful beings all continued to congregate towards this shining red light as the scene gradually became clear to the eyes.
In front of them, the outline of a ridiculously large door looking structure stood alone in space!
The outline of the door was surrounded by searing red flames, its entire existence looking completely out of the norm as it blazed powerfully in space. It was so humongous in size that many of the large Interstellar Sh.i.p.s congregating towards it could not even compare in size, only being 1/10 the size of the flaming gateway in front of them.
This was the doorway leading to the First Realm of Hell!
Chapter 261 - The Door that Leads to Hell
The door that led to the First Realm of Hell showed itself grandiosely to the many crowding beings seeing it for the first time.
The beings in the sh.i.p.s that were getting closer to the gateway were able to see many interstellar sh.i.p.s already stationed a few miles around the flaming door, and these sh.i.p.s carried a special significance.
These were not sh.i.p.s that had just arrived like most of them, but they were already stationed here for the past hundreds of years as they acted as the first line of defense to monitor this gateway which could bring them into the First Realm of Hell, but it could also take terrible beings out of this realm as well.
These were various beings from world powers under the agreement to battle against the Infernals, some being stationed here for years as they
carried out their jobs as guards and protectors!
The many sh.i.p.s coming in stopped at sufficient distance as they came to a standstill, waiting for the start of a grandiose event.
Elder Spacewarp's vibrant essence erupted out in the Interstellar Warship as he took the center of attention, the many awed disciples turning their gazes towards his as he began to speak.
"What lies before us is the Gateway to the First Realm of Hell, a terrible world that is the birthplace of many of the Infernals you have to come to learn about."
His voice reverberated throughout the ship as he continued.
"Once you pass through this Gateway, you will be transported to a random location in the First Realm of Hell, this being something that none of us can control."
The Elder waved his hands as he was speaking, bringing to their eyes an assortment of colorful medallions in the thousands that began shooting out from him and towards the many disciples all around.
"What we can control though, is your exit. These Infernal Medallions are creations from the resources we have gained in the Realms of Hell over the years, and they allow for the immediate teleportation of anyone that activates it. For now, attach them to your identity medals and mark them with your name, and the name of our sect. Only use these precious medallions if you find yourselves in dire situations where you might lose your life."
His strong words resounded as the disciples took hold of these medallions as if they were another lifeline, using essence to inscribe their names and 'Profound Astral Sect' before putting them in their bags of holdings as they continued to listen.
"The medallions will react to your unique signature and also act as a scorekeeper for the fun aspect of this hunt, allowing us to distinguish which of you is performing the best in the Infernal Hunt."
Elder Spacewarp waved his hands as a red light shone from the medallions, acting like string as it all came towards him, and he redirected it to the space outside of the Interstellar Warship as the disciples turned to see similar red lights shooting from the many sh.i.p.s that were now stationed around the humongous flaming gateway.
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